Long Live the King!
by Kyogou
Summary: Yuuri Shibuya, also known as the Great Demon King, was struggling to keep control of such a large kingdom without things getting to a point where it would turn for the worst, doing everything in his power to stop the war completely.  Many Pairings Inside
1. Part One

-1Long Live the King! - A Kyo Kara Maoh! Fanfic  
Rating: R (subject to change)  
Pairings: Lots and lots :]  
Summary: Once upon a time, in a world far away from Earth... a war had broken out upon the planet containing one of the most power demon races across the universe; the Great Demon Kingdom. Only recently having acquired a new king to reign its vast expansion, the kingdom was struggling to prevent the war from growing into an out of control massacre...

Yuuri Shibuya, also known as the Great Demon King, was struggling to keep control of such a large kingdom without things getting to a point where it would turn for the worst, doing everything in his power to stop the war completely. However, despite his many attempts to stop the fighting between the Humans and the Demon Tribes, communication was failing miserably and there was no hope but to find an alternate means of putting an end to the raging war.

At his side, he had the advise of his trusted companions; the noble Conrad, the stoic Gwendal, the gullible Gunter, and his brat fiancé, Wolfram. Together, his four companions vowed to both carry out their orders given to them as well as protect their beloved Demon King... the only problem was...

... It seemed Yuuri was the idol of each one's affections.

Part One 

"Your Highness...!"

A flurry of white and silver passed through the various halls and nearly burst down every door in the castle while searching for its objective. It appeared that, once again, the Great Demon King had gone off to somewhere where the advisor couldn't find him, casting poor Gunter into despair.

"Ack! Lord Gunter, just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Wolfram was nearly ran over in the process, plastering himself to the wall to avoid the stampede as the lord ran right by him.

"Oh, Lord von Bielefeld... this is just awful! I can't seem to find His Highness anywhere in the castle... please, oh please tell me that you've seen him!" Worried hands caught up Wolfram's own as sparkling eyes begged for anything, a mere clue as to where the king had ran off to this time.

"... No, he's missing again? Why can't he just learn to stay put?" growled Wolfram with a roll of his eyes, jerking his hands away from Gunter's and storming off down the hall, apparently joining the search as they were engaged, after all. "I can't believe this; he thinks he can just up and walk around without me being there to keep an eye on him! That wimp doesn't seem to understand that half of what he says is flirting!"

"W-wait! Lord von Bielefeld... wait for me! I'm coming too!" Gunter cried and hurried to catch up with the steaming blonde.

Once he thought it was safe, Yuuri poked his head out from around one of the crates in the last room Gunter had checked, having stowed away there when he heard the frantic cries of his pursuer. He hung his head with a sigh... there never seemed to be any time to get out and just enjoy the outdoors these days with Gunter hanging over his shoulder and blabbering to him about studying and how important their kingdom's history was. The problem wasn't that the history and stuff wasn't interesting... but more the fact that lately, Gunter had become even more clingier than usual.

Conrad stepped to the side up against the wall, perfectly in time to avoid Gunter rush by and Wolfram storm by swearing all sorts of pain on his godson. Conrad watched them both disappear around a corner, before he smiled to himself and continued his stroll down the hallway, pausing outside the room Yuuri was secretly hiding in and leaning against the wall to casually wait for the boy to poke his head out.

Yuuri stepped out fully without much notice to the man that had so easily spotted him, brushing off his shoulder before he caught a glimpse of brown out of the corner of his eyes. Turning his head to the side, he suddenly yelped and stumbled backwards away from Conrad, sweatdropping, "C-Conrad! Where did... where did you come from? Don't tell me you're with them... I don't want to study!" _

Conrad just chuckled and rest a hand on his hips with a slightly teasing quirk on his lips. "Now, heika, learning the history and politics of the Great Demon Kingdom is extremely important. And there's court mannerisms and etiquette that also needs instruction."

"C'mon, Conrad... I have to sit in that room alone with Gunter every day! And haven't I told you not to call me heika; you're responsible for my name after all, so you might as well use it," Yuuri sighed, running a hand through his black hair.

"Of course...Yuuri..." Conrad smiled warmly, his voice softening even as he said Yuuri's name. He then pulled out a catchers mitt, holding it for Yuuri to see. "Well, I suppose a break from heavy studying can be allowed now and then."

Yuuri's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the familiar baseball glove, feeling his heart soar just by looking at it, "Yeah! I'd love to, thanks Conrad..."

Conrad tilted his head with a smile and walked with Yuuri out to their usual practice area to play a bit of catch.

Gwendal frowned and took a moment to look up from the stacks of paperwork on his desk, listening as Wolfram and Gunter stormed the castle in their almost daily search for the maoh. He eyebrow twitched just slightly as he ignored the urge to join the search, instead, grumpily looking back to his work with a scowl and praying Gunter didn't come to him whining.

"Ooooh, GWENDAL!" A feminine voice suddenly called out down the halls just outside of Gwendal's office.

Gwendal froze, eyes widening in uncharacteristic horror at that voice. Oh no... He spared no time in getting up and walking swiftly out of his office, running over any unfortunate servants that happened to get between him and escape from that woman. If she found him... "..."

"Oh! Lord Gwendal!" Having spotted the man just as he came out of his quarters, Gunter rushed up and begged with sad, pleading eyes, "Oh this is terrible... we just can't find his Majesty anywhere. He wouldn't have happened to waltz by your room, Gwendal?"

Gwendal immediately scowled his darkest, most intimidating scowl. "No I haven't. Try Lord Weller, since he seems to have an acute sense to the royal pain's location at all times. Now out of my way."

"AHA! FREEZE!" Annissina appeared at that moment, pointing at a confused Gunter and a horrified Gwendal. She wagged her finger and smirked, chuckling to herself. "Mm-hm-hmmm...Tired of looking for the Maoh? Can't seem to find him anywhere? Well, you three come along and I'll show you my greatest invention that will make the days of a missing maoh non-existent!"

"... I'm not sticking around for this," Wolfram made a face and turned around the moment he wheeled into view, heading back the way he came.

"A new... invention?" Gunter blinked with curiosity at the mention of something that could possibly reveal their king's location. "Can you... can you really find his Highness, Lady Anissina..?"

"Ah ha ha! Of course it'll find him! The Mr.-Moah-Sniffer-3001-Vs 6 is perfectly suited for no other purpose!" Anissina laughed proudly to herself at Gunter's question.

Gwendal sweatdropped. "What happened with the first five versions?"

"Huh? Oh...they blew up when I tried to use them. But version 6 is FLAWLESS!" 8-)

Gwendal immediately tried to run for it.

"Oh, Lord Gwendal, perhaps this one will be different!" Gunter nearly sobbed as he immediately latched on to the elder of three brothers, pleading up at him with desperate violets that were quickly beginning to brim with unshed tears. "We must find His Majesty... we must! Our kingdom depends on it!"

"No our kingdom doesn't. As I said, he's probably with Lord Weller..." Gwendal argued and tried to pry himself free and run for it.

Annissina just smiled and fisted her hand in victory. If she's hooked Gunter, Gwendal would get dragged along in the end. It never failed.

"But sir, what if the poor boy has been kidnapped? He could be all alone out here, scared and suffering whilst praying for the heavens to open up and swallow him whole! He _needs_ us! He needs _you_ , Lord von Voltaire..!" Gunter's face snapped into sudden seriousness, holding his hands firm in his own as he stared him down.

Gwendal grit his teeth with a faint blush and a taken aback expression, even going so far as to sweatdrop at Gunter's sheer serious look. He could also feel a speck of indignancy flare up in him. "N-Now wait a minute, here! Where do you get off with the idea that for the Maoh I'd willing deal with her and her _inventions_!"

"Oh come now, Gwendy. I've known you since we were kids," Anissina grinned evilly, catching on to Gunter's plot, though she only had an inkling of an idea what it might be.

Gwendal looked completely flabbergasted by the mere suggestion that he would even have a soft spot for Yuuri.

Gunter retained his serious expression, if only to cling tighter to the general, "Think about it, Lord von Voltaire... what if he was out there, all alone with nothing but the stray cats to keep him company in his dingy cell? The soft matted fur of the poor things would be the only thing to keep him warm during the cold, chilling nights..."

Gwendal stood growling low to himself with Gunter beside him, both of them within Anissina's workshop as she presented to them that accursed new invention of hers. All he could think about? He really needed an excuse to escape these people...

Gunter seemed to be watching with the usual gullible fascination, peering closer at the device as it was revealed.

"YES! This is the wonderful, masterful Mr.-Maoh-Sniffer-3001-Vs 6!" Anissina announced happily.

To those who knew it, it looked like a toaster with a large nose hovering above it with a set of wings. To Gwendal, it could only bode disaster.

"Oh... and how does this contraption work?" Gunter stared at it quizzically, walking forward so he could examine it closer.

"Simple! We just these two power cores and give it to Lord von Voltaire," Anissina began to explain handing Gwendal a metal red clip in one hand and a metal blue clip in the other, both attached to a wire that fed into opposite sides of the device.

Gwendal held them, not looking pleased at all.

"Oh, I see..." Gunter rubbed his chin and leaned in even further, eager to see if it could really find their beloved Maoh.

"Anissina...I have to protest. This doesn't seem at all...safe..." Gwendal argued grumpily. He had a very bad feeling.

"Oh enough from you. Now...we just flick this switch," Anissina began, moving to flick said switch.

Gunter just stood there, having been caught within the blast, which in turn had covered him from head to toe in black. He coughed once... and blinked. o_o "... Did we find him?"

"No..." Gwendal growled with all the venom of a full grown dragon, still clutching the two ends of the wire in a death grip while his hair officially stood out...everywhere.

"I don't understand what happened. You must have put to much power in," Anissina ignored them both, looking over the ruined device as she started trying to figure out what improvements were needed.

Gwendal sighed and tossed the wires to the floor like yesterday's trash, turning and quietly but deadly leaving the room.

Gunter coughed a second time, wondering if the contraption had blew up not from not from a power overdose, but perhaps the Maoh was very close by... No, that would be too silly.

Conrad looked up right after he caught one of Yuuri's throws, looking back towards the castle where he'd sensed a great disturbance of magic.

"Something the matter, Conrad..?" Yuuri blinked, trying to look around to stare at the building too, giving the thing a quizzical look.

"Oh nothing," Conrad chuckled and turned his attention back to their game. "By the way. I overheard an interesting rumor in the city today."

"Really? What happened?" Yuuri looked to him with curious eyes.

"Ah...nothing traumatic. There's just a rumor that an ancient artifact of the Kingdom has recently cropped up in the mountains just beyond dragon territory." ^^

Yuuri paused, his eyes suddenly lighting up for a second time, "Like... more dragons...? We can see the dragons again...?"

"Of course. And I'm sure the baby misses you," Conrad smiled warmly. "However, it might be a bit hard talking Gunter and Gwendal into allowing such an exploration."

"We could always just go without them..." Yuuri murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. It'd be ok if he had Conrad with him...

"What? Did I just hear the words 'go without them' come out of your mouth, you pathetic wimp?" Without notice, Wolfram appeared beside Yuuri with a furious look on his face, placing both hands on his hips defiantly as he puffed out his cheeks. "You are most certainly NOT going anywhere without taking me along! Heaven forbid if I left the two of you alone, what you might get into your head or let this unruly brother of mine do to you!"

"W-Wolfram!" Yuuri let out a surprised yelp before he backed up a few steps, making sure he was closer to Conrad. "H-hey, look, you've got it all wrong... I didn't say anything about going anywhere, really! You must have been hearing things." ^^'

"Damnit, Yuuri! I know what I heard, and I'll have you know that the whole castle is being turned upside down in Gunter's search for you! You can't keep running away from your studies all the time, don't you understand? If it wasn't for me-"

"Shhhhh!" the Maoh panicked and quickly covered the blonde's mouth with his hand, less the maids hear them and would go running to alert Gunter. "Erm... Wolfram.." _

Conrad sighed and closed his eyes, face expressionless though inside he was only just barely annoyed. He'd wanted to take a quiet trip with Yuuri. Now he would have to find a REAL artifact beyond the dragon territory before Wolfram realized it had been just a ploy to give Yuuri and him an excuse to travel a bit and see the dragons once more.

"Look... Wolfram..." Yuuri sighed and let go of the blonde, resting his hands on his hips. "Um... Conrad was saying that there's a rumor going on downtown that another ancient artifact out past.. um... the dragon territory. I think it would be best if we kept the party maximum as low as we possibly can... and the dragons like me, so it's not like we'd be in danger... so..."

"Absolutely not! I will not have you going off and fraternizing with my brother! If you have to go off and find this item, then either I'm coming with you to keep tabs on you or we're not going to go at all, Yuuri!" scolded Wolfram, narrowing his jaded eyes to make sure he got the point across.

Yuuri sighed; looked like they weren't going to have any choice but to take Wolfram..

Conrad continued to watch and wait, not wanting to upset Yuuri or Wolfram with his own opinions.

Yuuri heaved a sigh and turned to look at Conrad with an apologetic smile, "So..."

"I will gather a small group of guards, our horses, and provisions...heika," Conrad simply smiled and bowed to Yuuri, turning to do so and pausing when he suddenly noticed a large burst of light and smoke coming from the direction of Anissina's workshop. "..."

"What... was that?" Yuuri stared at the smoke in shock, knowing it was never a good sign if something was rising up from their castle in such a manner... though it was often something that occurred rather close to Anissina's workshop.

"It's fine...It came from the direction of Anissina's workshop," Conrad sweatdropped with an exasperated but amused expression.

"Oh... I hope they're alright," Yuuri frowned up at Anissina's workshop.

"They'll be just fine, Yuuri.. Now if we're going to be going on a trip, we need to gather up some of your things and get them ready. Come on," Wolfram grabbed Yuuri by the arm and started to drag him back inside.


	2. Part Two

-1 On their way in, they had the unfortunate circumstance of meeting Gwendal in the hall way. Said man managed to seem even more intimidating despite his hair sticking up everywhere. "Where are you going?" 8(

"Erm..." Yuuri sweatdropped, not having expected to run into the entire cast and crew this morning.

"We're... doing fiancé like things," Wolfram answered with choice words, almost faltering but managing to say it without too much suspicion.

"..." Gwendal looked down at them, eyebrow twitching, before he suddenly stated in a very calm voice. "Where ever you're running off to, I'm coming along. No arguments."  
"W-what? ... Er, no! We don't want you watching!" _

"... Eh?" O_O

Gwendal narrowed his eyes, baring down on Wolfram. "I am NOT spending another MINUTE in this castle. I'M. GOING." 8(

"Of course you can come along," Conrad spoke up, smiling peacefully at the three of them. If he couldn't have Yuuri alone, he wasn't going to let Wolfram be alone with him either.

"Lord Weller!" Wolfram glared at his half-brother, obviously not amused with this decision.

Yuuri sighed and hung his head, giving up all hope on getting any one on one time with Conrad. Before he knew it, he guessed that somehow Gunter would want to come along too... _

"Heika...would you like any snacks or refreshments prepared for our journey?" Conrad turned to ask Yuuri, ignoring Wolfram's protesting.

Gwendal seemed appeased and went to prepare for the trip he didn't know anything about.

Just as Yuuri was about to open his mouth for a reply, Gunter came wheeling around the corner and spotted him at long last. It didn't take long for him to completely latch onto the young demon king, "Oh Your Majesty, how I feared you had been eaten by the monsters! You simply vanished from the palace without a trace, no clues to show where you'd gone, no hints to set my poor weary mind at ease!"

"A-ack, Gunter! S-stop, you're going to suffocate me!" _

"You nasty little...! Yuuri, I can't believe you're tolerating that from HIM! I'm your fiancé, you cheating jerk!" Wolfram looked to be in tears.

_''

Conrad sighed to himself and left to gather up the horses and men.

Gwendal was busy trying to de-static his hair, but managed somehow and then met up with Conrad at the stables.

And before Yuuri knew it, Gunter had somehow decided to come along, which all in all meant he was not going to have a typical vacation...

Conrad calmed down the horses as the few bodyguards he'd picked gathered supplies and things outside in the castle courtyard.

Gwendal strode towards them, much much much less frizzy then earlier. He still looked ready to kick something, but that's what he normally looked like.

Conrad smiled at him, then looked around. He wondered where Yozak was? He'd sent a summons, needing to ask the red-head a favor.

Yuuri eventually wound up outside with the rest of them and shouldered a pack that he had to wrestle away from Wolfram in attempts to prove that he could indeed carry something. Walking over to Conrad, the demon king looked over the horses, "So are we going to go through the dragon territory again, Conrad?"

"Of course, heika. I was hoping we'd...have a smaller entourage so as not to upset the dragons, but..." Conrad turned to look over the group they'd gathered up and sighed, shaking his head with a rueful smile. "Well...at least your safety won't be any concern." ^^

"I guess so..." sighed the demon king as he looked over his shoulder, watching as Wolfram approached with the rest of the packs.

"I've managed to locate everything we'll be needing for this journey," Wolfram announced, though it wasn't really directed to anyone. "Gunter wanted to bring one of Anissina's contraptions, but I told him that was out of the question."

Conrad kept his mouth shut, always able to sense the storm before it arrived.

"Absolutely not!" Gwendal scowled at them all but Conrad, who had sufficiently placed himself out of range. "If Gunter wants to bring any of her damned inventions, I'll tie him to it and he can stay here with it." 8(

"Um..." Yuuri held up his hands, but not really getting anywhere because no one ever paid any attention to him when people started to fight. _

"I didn't say we were bringing any, Lord von Voltaire! I just told you that I told him NO," Wolfram glared back, being the stubborn brat he was.

"And I'm confirming that order a second time. No!"

"Now, now..." Conrad spoke up, making an easing motion with his hands towards his two half-brothers. "Let's not forget this is a mission of discovery for our maoh. There's really no need to continue with this negative energy." ^^

Gwendal turned to stare at the ever smiling Conrad, a trait that unnerved him at times like this. Sometimes it was hard to tell what the man was thinking. Then again, Gwendal knew his artifacts, so he knew this wasn't a real mission. He'd probably just plotted this to get Yuuri alone from their annoying younger brother for a bit, which had obviously backfired.

Conrad noticed Gwendal's look and sweatdropped. Damn, his lie had been called out already.

"Then let's stop loitering about and get a move on... I'd preferably like to leave Gunter behind if we can," Wolfram snorted and turned to leave.

"But Gunter is the one who knows all the traps there down t an art... he put them there," Yuuri objected with a frown, folding his arms across his chest. "We'll need Gunter if we're going to travel into the dragon territory."

Wolfram huffed, "We've been there before, we can get rid of them without his help."

"What? Without who's help?" Gunter popped out from literally nowhere and blinked.

"Our Maoh has a very good point. Gunter may come, but all of Anissina's inventions stay." 8(

"What? We're going somewhere?" Gunter blinked and looked around, then noticed Yuuri standing not to far away. "... Your Highness! We've been searching the entire castle up and down for you, thank the heavens that you're safe!"

"W-wai-" Yuuri started to object, but was too late to stop himself from getting glomped to death by Gunter. Did Gunter already forget that he'd just seen him five minutes ago..?

Conrad spotted Yozak of in the corner at last and glanced at the rest of the group. Sure no one was paying him any attention, he made his way over to his friend's side with a straight expression. "Yozak...I need a favor."

Yozak continued to examine his nails for a moment until he noticed the other walk up to him. Out of all the people, besides the Maoh of course, Conrad was the one he respected the most, "Yeah, what's the problem?"

"It seems I've gotten myself into a small situation," Conrad began, taking a moment to glance at the group as Gunter let out a yell and proceeded to smother Yuuri. "See...I made a little white lie about an artifact beyond the dragon territory. It was clearly meant to give Yuuri some relaxation time. And it now seems I've recruited my family and half the castle." _

"... So you just got yourself into a whole mess, huh? Oh boy," Yozak sighed and shook his head. "Let me guess... you want me to go find something and stick it there?"

Conrad gave Yozak his best smile and sweatdrop. "If you would, please. I would REALLY appreciate it..." ^^'

Yozak heaved a sigh, "Alright, alright... I'll see what I can dig up... but you owe me a round of drinks for this, Conrad." _

"Of course," Conrad smiled in delight, having not feared in the least that Yozak would let him down.

And thus poor Yozak turned and wandered off towards the gates of the city, mentally preparing himself for the task of finding any clues of where an artifact may be.

"Yuuri, here," Wolfram was still pestering Yuuri, though he held out a wrapped out sword to his fiancé.

"Oh... thanks," the Maoh accepted it and blinked, then made a face as he heard something moan from within the wraps. "... Do I have to bring Morgif?"

Gunter nodded his head frantically, "But of course, your highness! He is a symbol of your mighty role as king of our demon tribe!"

._.''

Conrad sighed in relief, reminding himself to get more then just drinks for Yozak later, and walked over to rejoin the group in time to hear Yuuri whining about bringing Morgif.

By that time, Yuuri had sighed and attached Morgif to his waist, giving it a half-hearted glare as it moaned back at him, "Alright... let's go."

"You can come and ride with me today, Your Highness~" Gunter graciously offered and swooped up the young Maoh so he could go and put him up on his horse.

"G-Gunter, no! I'm his fiancé, he's riding with me!" Wolfram glared daggers at the silver-haired man.

"Last time he rode with you, your horse tried to knock him off," Gunter took the glare easily and only smiled in return while hopping up to slide behind a rather disgruntled Yuuri.

"Why you good-for-nothing...!"

Conrad looked surprised by this bold move, and also slightly unhappy. "Gunter...isn't that rather improper? I'm sure Yuuri can ride safely alone while the rest of us ride alongside." _

"I agree. His highness needs to learn how to handle himself on a horse, otherwise he'll look a fool in front of his people," Gwendal gruffly agreed and proceeded to easily drag Gunter off of the horse.

Gunter attempted to pry Gwendal off with his foot, "N-now hold on a minute, don't you think it's much safer to have him ride with me when we're traveling through that dangerous territory full of traps? He doesn't know where they're laid, and I'm the only one who does! It's safer to have him with me!"

The man then paused, looking down into Gwendal's eyes, "Or... are you just jealous because you wanted His Majesty to snuggle against you while YOU rode with him?"

Conrad and Gwendal exchanged equal looks and nods. "Gwendal...do you remember our last visit to the dragon's land?"

"In fact, I do. Every...single...trap..."

"Well then, I think we both know what that means," Conrad smiled warmly at him.

"I believe we do," Gwendal offered a smirk, then scooped up Gunter, heading off to tie the man up somewhere out of the way.

Conrad watched them go with Gunter protesting the entire time, then turned with an innocent and care-free smile to Yuuri. "Well then, heika. Let's get you safely onto your horse." ^^

However, Conrad's innocent smile was met with a cold glare from the Maoh, a faint flicker of the true Demon King's presence in his eyes, "... That wasn't necessary."

Apparently already on his horse, Yuuri then sharply pulled on the reins and steered his steed down the cobbled path.

Conrad seemed unaffected or not to have noticed, but inside he wilted a little. Did that mean Yuuri preferred Gunter's company?

Gwendal came back, noticing the slight slump in Conrad's shoulder. He frowned, thinking the same as Conrad as he guessed what had happened.

Wolfram was staring in mild shock, looking between all of them before he quickly mounted his albino horse and hurried after the Maoh, "Y-Yuuri, wait up!"

Conrad quietly got onto his horse and kicked off, hurrying to catch up and stay by Yuuri's side.

Gwendal sighed and mounted as well, motioning the soldiers along as he to caught up with them.

Wolfram stayed just behind Yuuri, careful as to allow the Maoh some room to himself since apparently he wasn't quite feeling social... which was odd, especially for their King. It wasn't often that Yuuri was so... anti-social.  
Conrad and Gwendal were both quiet and obviously annoyed, though it was more obviously shown on Gwendal's face then Conrad's. Both men were growing spiteful towards Gunter now.

"... So, any idea what it is we're looking for?" Wolfram cautiously asked after a few hours of riding with no conversation whatsoever. The eerie silence was starting to bother him, which was rare for the blonde prince.

Yuuri kept his eyes on the path, but replied, "No, not really..."

Conrad kept quiet, his eyes ahead and his attention alert for bandits or attackers if there would be any.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what we're doing," Gwendal spoke up. He'd been in such a hurry to escape Anissina's clutches, he'd been willing to hope on whatever crazy joy ride their Maoh had thought up next.

"So more or less, we're just walking blindly into some half-assed plan to find an artifact that may or may not really exist? Pathetic..." scoffed the blonde, glaring up the path with crude jade eyes.  
"What are you after this time, anyway?" Gwendal spoke up finally, needing to figure out just what he'd gotten himself into.

Conrad didn't reply to either of them. He still seemed more serious then usual. His plan had been to spend some time alone with Yuuri. He'd wanted to make the boy smile and laugh like he always would when he was relaxed and enjoying himself. Now Yuuri wasn't expressing either emotions. He was being rather cold. And it was somehow tied to Gunter, since that's when the attitude started. And this knowledge was like a cold knife that suddenly stabbed into Conrad's chest.

"..." Conrad stopped his horse and closed his eyes, swallowing a lump in his throat and gathering himself together before he let anything escape free. After all, he was known for his calculated self-control. "I'm going ahead to scout the path."

With that, he kicked his horse into a gallop and broke from the group, going on ahead.

Gwendal frowned at the other's retreating back. It wasn't normal for Conrad to leave Yuuri's side...ever. And now he only had his brat of a brother and the twerp king to answer his question. So understandably, he looked to them expectantly.

"..." Yuuri's scowl worsened as he watched Conrad take off, but he made no other motion other than that.

"... I have no idea what the hell is going on! If I had known we were just walking like a bunch of dodo birds on a blind quest, I would have stayed at home!" Wolfram was getting more and more fed up by the minute, and he was known to have very low tolerance. "And what the hell is wrong with you, Yuuri? You haven't said a word for the last three hours other than 'No, not really'!"

"..."

"Damnit, don't just ignore me when I'm talking to you! I'm your fiancé, and I demand to know what the hell is going on!"

"I could take a guess. Apparently, Gunter and the maoh are closer then we thought and not bringing him has put Yuuri in a fowl mood. Honestly, if you'd rather go on this trip with that idiot, let's turn back for the castle now. You've done enough to upset Conrad as it is," Gwendal snapped at Yuuri, taking his irritation out on them.

Around this time Conrad had escaped the sight of the others and slowed his horse down, finally allowing himself to let out a restrained breath. Why did something so silly hurt this way? He'd only felt this once before...when Julia had died. And yet, all Yuuri had done was give him the silent treatment. For the first time... -_-

There was a pause before Yuuri turned around, dark eyes flaring to life, "Well I can tell you one thing about your theory is WRONG, and that's the fact that there is absolutely nothing between Gunter and I! Yeah he's a great guy, but you're wrong! I just don't see why you had to get rid of him when we all had just agreed we needed him because of the traps! What if he set new traps that you don't know about?"

"Well I don't see what the problem is, your _highness_," Gwendal drew himself up and stared Yuuri back down, his tone taking on the disdain it had once had before the events in Simaron's desert. "There are countless times in which you've left Gunter behind for reasons stupider then ours. Gunter will catch up, as he always does. On the other hand, you've taken it upon yourself to treat this procession with less regard and concern for their feelings then the previous maohs. I kindly ask you to return to your castle and your lessons, and leave the rest to people who have lived longer and know this world better then some outside child like you. People who can't just up and leave the kingdom when it fancies them."

And with that, Gwendal kicked his horse hard to get it to gallop, taking off after Conrad's trail.

"... They forget that Gunter can't find his way out of a paper bag," Wolfram sighed irritably before taking one more look at their king, then with a torn expression, turned to follow both his elder brothers.

Which left Yuuri alone with the mass of soldiers...

"Oowwoooahh..."

"Shut up, Morgif!" 8( ... and Morgif.

The soldiers left with Yuuri all looked very nervous, as their best sword masters and mages had just left them. . .

After a while of wondering what on earth he was going to do, Yuuri sighed heavily and turned to head down an alternate path, though it wasn't pointed back towards the castle. He had decided that if he was ever going to prove that he could be king, he was going to just have to find this artifact on his own, meaning he would have to rely on his information gathering skills as well as his own judgment.

"Oooooooo..." Morgif groaned, making a face.

"Shhhhhh," Yuuri put a hand over it to try and make it quiet down. ._.


	3. Part Three

Conrad had found a stream soon after his departure and stopped there, kneeling by the waters and gently bathing his face. He had to think. To regain himself. Their were the facts to be considered. Yuuri was engaged to Wolfram, and he loved Gunter. That was that, and for Conrad to properly serve his king as he wanted to, he needed to squash these feelings of love for the Maoh and focus on his duties.

A few minutes later, following the horse tracks, Gwendal found his half-brother by a stream and slowed his horse to a stop, choosing to wait in silence. Considering Conrad's skill, the man should already know he was there. Gwendal didn't do comfort, so he figured it best to let Conrad handle it himself.

Wolfram was the last one to arrive on the scene, stopping just behind his eldest brother with a look of stoic indifference as to what may have been going on, though on the inside it showed that even he too was rather bothered by this sudden behavior. Really, he was Yuuri's fiancé! He was still mad that he hadn't gotten a kiss yet! 8(

Conrad wiped his face dry and stood, fixing the tightening of his sheath before he turned to them. "If you're all here, who is guarding heika?"

Gwendal frowned and looked at Wolfram with a raised eyebrow, as if asking why the blonde had dumbly left their king alone with a few mere soldiers.

"... I thought we were all leaving him because he needed time to grow up," Wolfram sweatdropped, not quite sure why he had felt compelled to follow his brothers rather than stay with Yuuri.

"Ah...well...it should be fine. We are still in demon country," Gwendal relaxed and let it slip the mind. Yuuri needed a moment to try and survive without the brother's there to rescue him.

"Then what should we do?" Conrad asked, unsure of himself now.

"Leave him. Let's watch from the sidelines and see how his royal _highness_ deals with this himself."

"... I can't believe I'm going to have to sleep in a bed without Yuuri," Wolfram muttered under his breath and folded his arms, gaze shifting off to the side.

"You shouldn't be sleeping in Yuuri's bed to begin with. It's scandalous," Gwendal sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Conrad quietly mounted his horse, half listening to the silly argument.

Wolfram sighed and cast his eldest brother a half-hearted glare, "It is not scandalous, everyone knows I'm his fiancé!"

"You're status as his fiancé is subject to change at his whim. Thus, to share a bed before your legally married is scandalous," Gwendal argued back with gruff annoyance.

"It really doesn't matter, since heika has chosen Gunter," Conrad spoke up with an innocent smile.

"Lord Weller, that is absolutely ridiculous! Yuuri even said himself not long after you left that there was absolutely nothing between him and Lord von Christ, and I personally would not accept it even if he hadn't said anything!" Wolfram fully glared this time. "For starters, we all know that both Yuuri and Gunter are completely incompatible! They're both short on brains and only seem to come in handy when everything else fails to work. It's like the saying 'two heads are better than one' but in reality it's really worse!"

"Exactly. If we're talking about compatibility, Yuuri needs someone strong and calm. Someone who's able to offset his energetic nature..." Gwendal explained, closing his eyes as he coughed into his fist and went silent.

Conrad wasn't believing Wolfram's story, and had to raise an eyebrow at Gwendal's strange response.

Wolfram turned to look at his eldest brother in mortification, "H-how dare you! Are you suggesting that I am incapable of stabilizing Yuuri? It sounds to me like you're trying to put yourself up to that task! I won't allow it!"

"Let me put you and Yuuri's relationship to light. If either of you is being stabilized by the other, its you." _

Conrad held his knuckles to his lips, stifling his chuckle.

"I-I beg your pardon! I can't believe you, out of all people...! My own brother!" Wolfram scoffed, indignantly turning his head away.

"I'm merely saying, he at least tones you down a little..." Gwendal mumbled gruffly, rubbing the temple of his forehead with a deep-set frown. Really, what did he do to earn such troublesome siblings?

"Well, if we're going to tail him, we should head out," Conrad suggested, starting his horse back in the right direction.

Wolfram still looked very bitter, but hopped up on his horse and steered it around to begin following Conrad, "Right... let's go."

Yuuri sighed and sat down at a table in a nearby inn, resting his head on his hands as he thought about what he knew of their task so far. Whatever it was they were looking for was past the dragon territory, which would require careful approach. Other than that... he really knew nothing about what he was looking for...

"What's the matter, sweetie? You look pretty down in the dumps," a rather beefy looking woman rested a hip against his table while holding a tray, flashing a grin at Yuuri.

"Y-Yozak!" Yuuri almost jumped in alarm. "W-what are you doing out here?"

"Doing my job, of course. And no, it's not to be a maid," Yozak replied with another smirk. "I just didn't expect you to show up so soon... and missing your entourage."

"Well... they're... doing some investigating on their own," Yuuri lied with a slump of his shoulders.

"Aah, I see... let me guess, you're out here looking for some clues as to another demon artifact. Am I right?" Yozak took a seat beside the demon king for a moment, watching the other with calm, yet merry eyes.

"Actually, yes... just the only thing is I'm not exactly sure what it is I'm looking for..."

"Well you're in luck, your highness," Yozak held up a hand in the form of a fist. "It just so happens that I've been doing a bit of digging for information myself and have come across a rather interesting tidbit... care to listen?"

"R-really?" Yuuri's eyes widened slightly and he leaned forward, as if afraid he'd miss some of the words that would come out.

Yozak grinned, "Hell yeah, baby. I don't do all this undercover stuff for yucks and giggles, you know. Just comes with the job description. Anyhow, I've heard that there's a sacred artifact located just past the depths of the dragon territory... apparently this artifact was most commonly used in the ridding of purity in a person, but there isn't a whole lot more that I know about it than that. What I do know, however, is that this artifact was actually discovered recently by officials in a human village and is currently being guarded somewhere within. In order to retrieve it, you're going to have to infiltrate their city, locate the artifact, and make away with it as quickly as you can. Think you're up for it, kid?"

Yuuri's expression melted into one of seriousness, "Yeah... I'm going to prove that I don't need an entourage of people to do all the work for me. I'm the king. I can do this..."

"Well, that's great to hear. Just be careful, you got that? It's not going to be some picnic," Yozak warned him, watching carefully as the demon king got to his feet and tossed his cloak back around his shoulders.

"I'll be careful... just watch, I'll come back with that artifact. I swear it," Yuuri nodded before giving Yozak a wave and heading back out the door.

A smile came to Yozak's face once Yuuri had passed through, "Hmm..."

Conrad was standing outside the diner in disguise...aka the hooded cloak look. He stood still, glancing left and right in the manner of a silent guard on duty.

Gwendal, along with Wolfram (despite his protests) investigated the town for any strangers or people acting strangely for a demon country village. If there were any who meant their king harm, they would root them out and eliminate the problem.

Conrad kept to the shadows as Yuuri left, frowning to himself. He didn't like the sound of this artifact. Ridding the purity...? He'd told Yozak to look into an artifact, but he hadn't meant for any dangerous ones...

Yuuri kept his gaze set ahead as he went about preparing a map of his route and looking it over, perched upon the back of his horse. Now that he knew a little more about what he was searching for, thanks to Yozak, he could plan a course of action... Normally, this was Gwendal's specialty, but of course Gwendal wasn't with him...

Frowning, Yuuri turned and looked around hopefully, but didn't see the stoic man anywhere. He was starting to miss his company...

Conrad kept to the shadowed allies, watching Yuuri from a safe distance.

Gwendal spotted Yuuri coming along and quickly grabbed Wolfram by the collar, dragging him with him into a nearby shop.

Wolfram yelped and was quickly drawn out of sight just moments before Yuuri passed by, the blonde looking about ready to give up this resolve of staying out of Yuuri's way... He didn't believe Yuuri was going to be able to pull this off all by himself. The Maoh needed him... he needed all of them, each for their own skills.

However, Yuuri seemed quite determined to go through with his plans. Face set into one of hard concentration, he folded up his map and slid it into his satchel while readying his horse to proceed ahead.

"Don't, Wolfram. A king who can't appreciate the subjects that surrounded him is no good to this country," Gwendal explained to the blonde. He was confident Yuuri would need their skills sooner or later.

"But..." Wolfram frowned, but didn't go after Yuuri. He hoped the Maoh wouldn't do anything too stupid...

It was around this time that Yozak came out of the inn, apparently having discarded his cross dressing attire for his regular clothes so that he could join Conrad, whom he had spotted rather easily through the window. Standing next to him without really alerting Conrad of his presence, he gently leaned over and poked the cloaked man's shoulder, "So remind me why you're hiding from the king?"

Conrad just sighed and shook his head. "Heika doesn't want us around this time. That's all."

"Oh? Well that's certainly peculiar... he doesn't seem like the type to go off and do things on his own," Yozak scratched his neck.

"Heika has his...own desired path," Conrad answered a little sadly, then shook it off and resumed his role as a knight. "Regardless, I don't like the sound of this artifact. When I asked you to look...I was thinking something less dangerous...putting something out that was stored in our treasury sort of less dangerous." _

Yozak suddenly smirked and held up a finger, "Oh, but it really is harmless.. unless you use it as it was designed to. As I told His Highness, it disperses the purity of a person... oh! I happen to have one with me in my satchel here, would you like to see it? I assure you it will bring you no harm for the time being."

"Allow me," Conrad agreed, wanting to see this artifact Yozak was referring to with his own eyes.

"Let's see..." Yozak opened the satchel and sifted through it before he pulled out... a large, pink item. "See, on Earth, they call it... a dildo."

Conrad stared at the thing in complete shock. He'd never in his life expected to find something like that in the demon world... "...Yozak...how did you get these?"

Yozak cackled softly and shoved it back into his satchel, "That's a secret, Conrad... if you want one for yourself, you're going to have to find one on your own."

Conrad frowned and gave him an incredulous look. "I hardly need one of those. Yozak, I would like to know where you got that. I don't recall you making any Earthly visits as of late."

"Alright, I'll give you a hint... I found a couple of them in a certain someone's room in the castle. Other than that, I'll let you ponder over where they came from," Yozak smirked and gave the other an innocent shrug.

"Yuuri has them!" Conrad looked utterly shocked beyond words. After all, Yuuri was the only one he knew that frequently traveled between the two worlds.

"Hahaha, nope. It's not His Highness," Yozak chuckled and started to walk on ahead, not wanting to lose sight of Yuuri.

Conrad walked faster to keep up with him, looking deeply troubled as he tried to figure this out from a list of possible suspects. "...It's not my mother, is it?" _

"Must you insist on finding out? I already told you your one clue, and I also said I wouldn't tell you any more. Just allow time to eventually give you the answer... if you want it that bad, that is," Yozak shrugged, a hint of a smirk still present on his lips.

"As I said. My only interest is in the fact that such a thing does not belong in the hands of Heika," Conrad shot him a glare, slightly unamused by the incessant teasing.

"I dunno... I think it'd do him some good. He is a teenage boy with hormones after all," Yozak rested his hands behind his head.

"But not with that kind of thing! He wouldn't know what to do with it in the first place!" Conrad sputtered, starting to grow flustered at the whole conversation. The very notion that Yuuri WOULD... _

"Oooh? You really think your precious king is so naive? These things are from his world; out of all of us, he would be the one to know the most about it. I doubt he's never seen one before," Yozak laughed at Conrad's flustered reaction.

"Of course he is, Yozak! In heika's world, the sort of store that sells those is off limits to children his age!" 8(

"Uh-huh..." Yozak shrugged, wondering if Conrad had ever considered that Yuuri most likely had porn mags somewhere in his room...

"Look...its just...Yuuri is..." Conrad struggled, then stole himself a moment to calm down and exhale slowly. "...actually...It doesn't matter. I'm only heika's bodyguard. It's none of my business..."  
Yozak paused briefly and did a complete one eighty in his step, turning around to face Conrad with a curious, yet serious expression, "Are you in love with him?"

Conrad tensed up enough to throw off his horse for a moment, quickly moving to calm the steed down as he tried to control the sudden flush in his face. "No! Don't be ridiculous, Yozak. Heika is...heika. A mere soldier such as myself has no place even dreaming of such things! Especially one who is also heika's godfather." It was a weak argument and a horrible lie, but to verbally admit that his heart had grown very fond of Yuuri in such a short time...

Yozak only gave him a blank stare that clearly showed the doubt in Conrad's claim, but he didn't press further and instead turned to grab the reins of his own horse. "Well, let's get a move on, my friend. We wouldn't want to lose his Highness."

"Yeah...uh...Yozak?" Conrad asked as they started off down the road again on horse. He glanced at his friend, a soft frown on his lips. "I can't...fall in love within someone else's fiancé again."

Yozak looked over his shoulder, a little sadness reflecting in his eyes, "... I know."

Conrad nodded softly and closed his eyes, urging his horse on as they traveled down the road tailing Yuuri.


	4. Part Four

-1Hey guys, Kyogou here. I just wanted to thank all of you that have set story alerts for this work; it makes me very happy to know it is enjoyed by others as much as I have enjoyed it. In fact, that brings me to mention that I'm not actually writing this solo. My devious cohort, Artemis (I have no idea if she has a fan fiction account… she's something like AnimeFan-Artemis on dA) roleplays with me and our joined ideas become stories like this one. This story has had a really interesting story direction, and I enjoy it immensely. But I just thought it's about time I introduced Artemis and those she is responsible of controlling. The characters she plays are as follows; Gwendal, Conrad, and Annissina. I think just about everyone else, including the various extras, are done by myself. I'll do my best to keep you updated as new characters come into play!

Nearby, Gwendal was also still following the brat king with his even brattier brother in tow.

Yuuri was busy riding steadily ahead, eyes set towards the distance where the map told him the artifact would be. This was going to be hard... but he would do it, no matter what. He wanted to prove he wasn't as fragile and wimpy as everyone thought him to be.

Wolfram's brows furrowed.

"He's really being stubborn about this. Come on...let's grab our horses and find Conrad," Gwendal sighed and turned away back to where they'd left their steeds, dragging Wolfram along so the blonde didn't try to ruin the whole plan.

"But-!" Wolfram objected, but was dragged along anyways.

"No arguments," Gwendal grunted, finding their horses and forcing Wolfram up on his before he got on his own horse. "Let's go."

Wolfram was very unhappy about this decision, but relented none the less and took up the reins of his horse.

Near the exit to the city, Gwendal and Wolfram met back up with Conrad and Yozak, hearing the story from Yozak.

"I see...and you're sure this artifact won't be harmful to heika?" Gwendal asked Yozak for his confirmation.

Conrad made an exasperated expression. If only they knew...

"Oh it's perfectly harmless," Yozak waved it off with a particularly devious grin. "You can rest assured that it will bring no harm to His Highness... unless he tries to do something stupid with it."

Conrad shot Yozak a glare, knowing what he meant by that. Ugh...his poor heika...

"This is heika we're talking about. I'm sure he'll do something ridiculously idiotic," Gwendal sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose at the thought.

Yozak just continued to smile like there was no problem at all.

"I agree... Yuuri's the kind of person to not notice he's in danger until he's got both feet in," Wolfram grumbled sourly.

"Gwendal...we need to change our focus. We need to get to the artifact before Heika. And then keep it away from him...and Wolfram..." Conrad glanced at his baby brother with a frown. Wolfram didn't need to get his hands on a dildo either. _

Gwendal frowned, noticing the protective look in Conrad's eyes. Apparently, Conrad did not agree about the dangers of this artifact. "Understood..."

"What? Why not me? What's wrong with it?" Wolfram glared at Conrad with a defiant glare in his eyes.

"It's not a toy for someone your age..." Conrad muttered, avoiding meeting that glare.

"How can you say something like that! I know just as well as any of you how dangerous and important some of these artifacts are!" Wolfram bristled, his voice rising.

"Alright kids, settle down," Yozak held up his hands. "We'll get around to what to do with it once we find it... that is, if we manage to find it first." ^^

Conrad sighed and turned his attention ahead, reminding himself to later investigate and have a very meaningful chat with whoever had brought such a thing to this world from earth.

"Let's pick up the pace," Yozak suggested, indicating towards Yuuri's direction with a nod of his head.

Conrad nodded and turned his eyes on Yozak. "Yozak, stay close to heika and if you have to, stall him from getting the artifact before us."  
Yozak raised a brow before he nodded, "Got it."

Conrad, unaware of the plotting of gods or goddesses, kept up as they followed Yuuri out of town and into the countryside towards the dragon territory.

Meanwhile, Yuuri was nearing the town and was still unusually serious about going through with his plans. Dawning the usual disguise of red hair and brown eyes, he now sat mounted upon his horse a ways from the front gates of the city Yozak had told him the artifact was in.

"Man... How am I even going to get in?" Yuuri frowned and hung his head, knowing that was usually Conrad's job to handle the diplomatic side of their missions... but Conrad wasn't here. Gwendal wasn't here, and now Conrad... He sighed, shaking his crimson bangs out of his face. Now wasn't the time to be regretting his decisions; he had an artifact to rescue.

Sighing, Yuuri tried the first option he came up with and got off his horse, leading it towards the gate in attempts to just pass through without any questioning.

"Hold it... where are you from, kid? Haven't you heard the city's been off limits due to the sudden presence of an evil demon artifact?" One of the guards barred Yuuri's way with his pike.

Well crap... "Erm... I-I'm from around here," Yuuri tried to explain, thinking on his feet. "I was sent out to get some supplies from the next town over and-"

The second guard looked at him suspiciously, "You don't look familiar... I've never seen your face before."

_ Eek... strike two._ Yuuri stiffened and held up his hands, "N-no, I'm telling the truth! I need to get in because-"

"Any and all outsiders are to be taken in for questioning regardless! You're going to have to come with us for a bit kid... then if we're sure you've nothing to do with the current state, then we'll let you go!" One of the guards started to hold onto Yuuri's arm and drag him inside.

"Hey! Let go, I've got nothing to do with-"

"Richter...? Richter, is that really you?" A big-chested woman with long blonde hair poked her head from out of one of the nearby houses, spotting Yuuri and watching him with wide blue eyes. A smile suddenly lit her face and she hopped out of the window in a single motion, rushing over to yank the Maoh from the soldier's hold and crush him in a giant hug.

"Mrrrph!" Yuuri was not pleased when his face met a giant cleavage. _

"Miss Rhea?" The first guard held up his hands to try and sway the woman away from Yuuri. "M'am, what's the reason for this? Clearly you don't know him...?"

"Nonsense! It's my little lost Richter~" Rhea cooed and squished Yuuri closer. "He's my brother's son; oh how I've missed you so much! Let's get you some tea and cookies right away!"

"But-" Yuuri didn't get much time to protest as he was suddenly dragged away towards the house, leaving the two stunned guards alone again.

"It's in that town?" Conrad frowned, eyeing the town from a hilltop they all stood at with their horses.

"It'll be interesting to see how heika gets in with that disguise," Gwendal noted.

Conrad sweatdropped, resisting the urge to go down there and smack those two guards a few times for bruising Yuuri's arm.

"Well...if that's not enough proof of his incompetence, I don't know what is," Gwendal sighed heavily in exasperation. If Yozak hadn't rushed in...

"T-that jerk! He's going to cheat on me!" Wolfram nearly roared and started down the hill, only to be held back by Yozak.

Gwendal and Conrad both looked in complete shock at Yozak. "Well...I'll be...there are woman that ugly!"

"Oh no...Yuuri..." Conrad murmured under his breath, turning a now very concerned gaze towards the village again.

"... Why are you all looking at me?" Yozak stared back at them with innocent eyes.

"Didn't I order you just a minute ago to go ahead of us and keep an eye on him?" Conrad turned his now very concerned expression on Yozak.

"He's not in any real danger just yet. Unless he suffocates against a bicep," Gwendal grumbled, steadying his horse.

"... Oh! I didn't know you meant NOW," Yozak grinned.

"No Yozak. I meant after the king was dead," Conrad replied sarcastically, eyeing his best friend.

"Hahaha... right, I'll go make sure nothing bad is happening," Yozak sweatdropped and steered his horse around to find another entrance.

Conrad sweatdropped and sighed heavily.

Wolfram watched Yozak's retreating back before he straightened up, "I'm going too! I'm not just going to sit back and watch and trust that cross-dressing idiot to keep an eye on Yuuri!"

Yozak apparently heard this and turned to look over his shoulder, "I really don't think you'd want to come with me, Lord von Bielefeld. We'd have to put you in a dress, and my job is no easy task."

The other scoffed, "Like I'd trust you! I'm going!"

"You will not be blowing our cover," Gwendal sighed, catching Wolfram by the back of his collar with an exasperated sweatdrop.

Conrad chuckled in faint amusement.

Wolfram glared and smacked his oldest brother's hand away, "And like you would have the slightest idea how I feel about it! He's MY fiancé, MY king, MY responsibility! I won't sit down and twiddle my thumbs while he gets into trouble like you guys are doing!"

"Fine then. Spoil him. But don't say we didn't warn you," Gwendal sighed and released the blonde.

Conrad inwardly sighed. Wolfram was right...but...

"I'm not _spoiling_ him, I'm doing my duty to my country and my fiancé!" Wolfram snapped again before turning to guide his horse to follow Yozak.

Yozak sighed, not entirely ecstatic about having to cover up for the brat prince as well, but it couldn't be helped. Wolfram did have a point, and certainly was stubborn enough.

"So...I'm failing my country by standing by..." Conrad murmured, closing his eyes and hanging his head slightly.

"I could care less what he says. I protect the country, but I still refuse to see that brat as our Maoh," Gwendal huffed indignantly. "Anyway, isn't this for the best? Let's see what he can do without our help. When the time comes, we'll definitely be there for him."

Conrad looked up at his elder brother and nodded in agreement. He needed to see what Yuuri was capable of without him. If Yuuri could honestly handle things himself...then he wouldn't need a half-breed soldier like Conrad around.

Wolfram followed Yozak around the outskirts of the city, his face set in a stern expression even when the other soldier came to a halt that nearly had them crashing into each other.

"Well, I know the easiest way to get in, and fortunately... I've got a spare costume. Now come over here with me and we'll get it on..."

Wolfram only had time to blink once before he was yanked off his horse and dragged into the nearby bushes, a startled yelp emerging soon after before it was followed with an eerie silence.

"Let's head in. We need to get the artifact first, right?" Gwendal suggested, starting his horse forward.

Conrad nodded quietly and followed along.

It wasn't long before Yozak had stuffed Wolfram into a rather bewitching costume that oddly enough suited his features. His rounded features fit well with the long curly blonde hair that settled against the middle of his back, a few stray locks resting over his shoulders in soft tresses against a light blue blouse and skirt. Yozak smirked in approval, having already changed himself in the blink of an eye.

Wolfram looked horrified at the fact that there were fake boobs against his chest.

"Now listen up... I've got a plan to get inside, but you're going to have to follow my instructions and play your part flawlessly," Yozak explained to the pouting prince. "What you need to do is..."

Wolfram paused as he listened to Yozak's instructions before his face blanked and he gave the other the most appalled look he could muster, "Y-you can't be serious... I don't want to do that!"

Yozak smirked again, "You're the one who signed up for the infiltration team, kid... tough luck."

"Ugh..."

Gwendal rode up to the entrance with Conrad and after a short chat with the soldiers, easily got into the city. He looked around, then glanced at Conrad. "We should gather information to locate its location in the village. The soldiers said it was some children that discovered the artifact."

Conrad sighed heavily at that, holding his face in his hand as his cheeks burned with reddened embarrassment. Children were the ones that found it? Dear god...they really needed to get that thing off the street. _

Meanwhile, Wolfram had given in to Yozak's plan and gathered up the folds of his skirt, holding them much like a lady before he shuffled into view of the soldiers... and quite suddenly fell down, "Ow, ow! My ankle, I think... I-I think I've sprained it...!"

"M-Miss?" One of the soldiers panicked immediately, glancing at his partner before advancing and kneeling at Wolfram's side.

"Ow! Oh ow, I don't think I can walk... s-sir, you've got to help me... I need to get to the nearest inn to retrieve some rations for my family, but now that this ankle of mine has given out, I... oh my poor family... they'll starve if I can't get them the rations! They're counting on me! You'll help me... won't you, good sir?" Wolfram looked up at the soldier with the biggest, most watering eyes he could muster.

By now, the other soldier had started to get concerned, while the first blushed faintly, "Don't you worry your pretty little head, miss. We'll get you to the inn ASAP, so you won't need to worry about your family!"

Wolfram inwardly made a face as he was scooped up by the soldier and carried inside, casting a glare at Yozak over his shoulder who had now emerged and was sneaking inside behind him. 8(

Yozak... was silently laughing his head off.

"That was a crime to all serious actors..." Gwendal grumbled to himself, having seen the little display.


	5. Part Five

Yuuri yelped when he was unceremoniously dropped into a chair, left to stare in exasperation at the woman that had more or less kidnapped him, "... Um... T-thank you for helping me, but I really think you've got me mixed up with someone else, M'am."

"Nonsense, how could you not be you?" The woman smiled at him and put her hands on her hips. "You've only been away for a few months and you've already forgotten your Aunt Rhea?"

"I'm... pretty sure," Yuuri tried to confirm.

Rhea pouted at him before sighing, "You're always like this, aren't you...? Well, maybe some tea will fix everything up in that jumbled mess of a brain of yours. Just one moment!"

"Uh..." Yuuri was left to himself at the dining room table. _

He was forced to drink tea with this strange woman that had saved him by dragging him inside... but now, he was starting to wish she hadn't. All she would talk to him about is how much she missed him, how her little dogs have been since his last visit, and after that, he stopped really paying attention. =_=

"So tell me, sweetie... where have you been? You were scheduled to drop by a month ago, and you never came. What was the big hold up?" Rhea asked as she sat down and drummed her fingers on the armchair.

"Um... minding my own business? I'm seriously telling you, I'm not this... Richter guy," Yuuri continued to object.

"Mhm, sure you aren't... then tell me. Who are you?" Rhea rested her chin atop her knuckles after some more finger drumming.

"... Uh..." Yuuri blanked, having not really thought of what his name was under this alias. Fidgeting with his turtleneck, he fought with his tongue to get something out without sounding too unsure of himself. "U-uh... um... Conrad?"

"... Your name is Conrad?" o_O

"Uh... yup!" ^^''

Conrad paused as he walked by a window, overhearing Yuuri's voice. A little surprised, he paused and listened in just a little...purely to make sure Yuuri was safe.

"Ok, _Conrad_... if you're not my darling nephew, Richter, then what are you doing in a place like this? You know this place is going through an odd sort of situation right now, don't you?" Rhea raised an eyebrow at the Maoh.

"W-well, that's because..." Finding it to be rather difficult to think on his feet, Yuuri started to fidget again until he he ended up sitting on his hands to keep them still. "See.. I... got lost on the way. I was supposed to be somewhere else, but I got separated from my travel mates.."

Rhea's eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Oh, is that so? That's not very good now, is it? If you've really gotten lost, you sure picked the one town that you shouldn't be walking into. Did you not hear about the demon artifact that was discovered by some of the children not too long ago?"

At the mention of the artifact, Yuuri perked up, "N-no, m'am. This is the first time I've heard about it, aside from the guards... it's a demon artifact? How can you tell?"

"Well... get a load of this," Rhea leaned close and held up her finger. "See... there's this weird button on in that, if you press it... the whole thing starts to vibrate and wiggle about! It's almost like a sort of worm mutation... no doubt it's demon technology!"

This time, Yuuri was the one raising a brow. What the hell, a wiggling artifact...?

Conrad turned bright red and hung his head, hiding his face into his hand. "..."

"Ok... so they don't know what this artifact is supposed to do? Is it harmful, does it do anything dangerous?" Yuuri asked, rubbing his chin as he took in this information to analyze.

"Well... other than that odd wiggling thing it seems to do at the touch of a button, they don't quite know yet. They're not in a hurry to alert the demon tribes that they have one of their possessions, you know?"

"So it's here? They're keeping it inside the city?"

Rhea nodded, "Yes, that's right... Apparently they're keeping it inside a-... oh! Tea's ready, hold on!" ^^

Yuuri sweatdropped.

Conrad also sweatdropped. Well, he at least knew two things. The...thing...was still in this village. And it was kept inside of something.

Yuuri sighed as he stretched out on the couch, considering what he knew. He was going to have to act fast if he wanted to get the artifact and split from the village before someone else showed up. Chances were, the others were either out looking for him, or had abandoned him and went home or off to find the artifact themselves.

Conrad sighed and rest his hand on the side of the wall, closing his eyes as he gripped the rough stone. 'Yuuri...am I wrong for wanting to keep you?'

"Just what are you doing here?" Gwendal asked from right behind Conrad.

"G-GAH!" Conrad jumped, having been in a rare occasion caught off guard.

Gwendal peeked through he window, seeing the people inside. "Spying on heika?"

"SHHH!" Conrad slapped a hand over his mouth and dragged his big brother down to a crouching position under the window with him, sweatdropping as he looked at the window and hope Yuuri hadn't heard Gwendal's voice.

"... Huh?" Yuuri sat up briefly, having thought he had heard someone say something, but after a while of listening further, he denounced it as Rhea talking to herself in the kitchen and sighed, laying back down once more. He had been hoping it was one of his comrades... but no, he should have guessed they wouldn't be coming back. He brought this upon himself, after all.

The two grown men continued to crouch their with twin sweatdrops, before Gwendal finally pried Conrad's hand off his mouth. He chose to whisper, "I think I may have found the children responsible for discovering the artifact."

Conrad drew his eyes away from the window to Gwendal, nodding quietly to show he was ready to follow him there and investigate.

Gwendal sighed and led the way, straightening on his feet once they were clear of the window and building.

"Here, sweetie. Here's your tea," Rhea came back into the living room and handed Yuuri the steaming cup of tea.

Sitting up, Yuuri accepted the beverage and blew on it before turning to Rhea again, "Um, Miss Rhea... about the location of that artifact... where was it in? Is it in a protected place?"

"What? Oh, yes! It's in the basement of the Mayor's vacation home, on the other end of town and at the top of the west most hill. You can't miss it, nor can you miss the huge amount of security! You can even see the place from my window, see?" Rhea indicated to the window Conrad had been under not too long ago.

"Huh..." Yuuri looked and indeed saw a rather gorgeous mansion sitting atop a distant hilltop. So that was where it was being held, in the basement? Why in the basement? Making a face, he turned around to sit down again, but jumped back when he found his face only inches from Rhea's. "E-eh?"

"I bet you're after that artifact, aren't you?" Rhea asked with a coy smirk, holding up a finger between the two of them.

The Maoh's eyes widened, "E-erm, that's just..."

"You can't fool me, Mister Conrad, sir. I can tell because you have that air of authority around you... are you the Great Demon King?"

Yuuri's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "N-no! Er... no, no I'm not. W-what makes you think that? I'm just Conrad!"

"Uh-huh... well..." Rhea scrutinized him a bit more before straightening up with a shrug. "I guess you're not... because if you were, you'd have black hair and black eyes and a bunch of flunkies following you around like love struck puppies."

"E-Excuse me?"

"In which case, I think I'll give you this. I know you're after the artifact for one reason or another, and personally, I'd rather see it gone. Then this place would be able to return to normal, and I could walk around town without one person waving their arms around screaming about the demons coming," Rhea sighed, reaching back into one of her pockets and pulling out a small vial of clear liquid. "Take this."

"What... is it?" Yuuri blinked at it, hesitant to accept the bottle.

Rhea smiled, "It's a secret potion that will turn you invisible! It lasts for only one hour once in effect, though, and you MUST take the potion a half hour before you go in, because it takes a while for it to work."

"Oh... okay, thanks, I guess..." Accepting the bottle, Yuuri stared at it, wondering if it really could disguise him long enough for him to sneak in and out with the artifact.

"Well, thanks again, Miss!" Yuuri waved to the lady at her front door, smiling and pocketing the tiny vial as he bounded down the steps and headed off.

Rhea continued to wave in return until Yuuri was out of sight. As she allowed her hand to drop back down to her side, she slowly started to smile and then squealed, turning back into the house and shutting the door behind her. She started to rub at her face a bit, and surprisingly enough...

"Eeeeeee, it worked! How fateful that we met here in this town at the perfect time!" Cecilie grinned and hugged a pillow to her chest, the strange makeup now gone to reveal the familiar face of the previous Demon Queen. Falling back upon the couch, she hugged the pillow tighter and gazed up at the ceiling. "Oh, but is he in for a surprise..."

Gwendal leaned against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose to fight off a headache as Conrad conversed with a young boy and girl who had apparently found the artifact.

"Oh my, that had to be scary. It's good the two of you are safe," Conrad soothed them in front of their mother's watchful eye. He stood up and faced the mother with his charming smile. "Bye the way, you wouldn't happen to know where the artifact was taken? We'd like to get it safely out of this town before anyone else is hurt."

"It was taken away by the mayor. I'm sure if you go to his manor and ask, he'll tell you where he's stored it. The sooner that thing is out of this town, the better," The mother replied with a heavy sigh and shake of her head. Obviously, she at least knew what the artifact looked like and hadn't enjoyed her children finding it.

Conrad and Gwendal made it to the manor and were easily admitted after their brief introduction. They both bowed to the mayor, then settled into the couch to gracefully accept tea and discuss the issue with said mayor.

"And as you can see, we feel it would be best to take the artifact back to the palace where it can be safely locked away from the public," Gwendal calmly explained, setting his tea cup down as he momentarily glanced at some of the little cakes.

Conrad chuckled to himself, chewing on his own biscuit. Really...this trip hadn't been so bad. It had been a long while since he and Gwendal had traveled alone together on a mission.

It was around this time that Yuuri had plastered himself to the mansion's outer walls, having taken out the little vial Rhea had given him and giving it a skeptical look. Something about it seemed a bit fishy, but... there was no way a kid like him was going to get into the building without some questions. It would have been easy if he had Conrad and Gwendal with him.

"Ooooooooh..." groaned Morgif.

"Shhh! Pipe down, they might hear us!" Yuuri scolded the groaning blade and sighed, uncorking the small potion with a flick of his thumb. It was risky, but it was the only chance he had... Taking a deep breath, he lifted it to his lips and downed it in one gulp.

"Ugh, that stuff tasted terrible..." Yuuri made a face as he shoved the now empty vial back into his pocket, wiping his mouth as to try and rid his taste buds of the aftertaste that had been left. Now all he had to do was wait a little while longer before he could begin sneaking in.

Inside the mayor's house, Yozak and Wolfram had successfully infiltrated the maid quarters and had dressed themselves to disguise as some of the regular house maids. Yozak was busy applying the last of his makeup, while...

"I can't believe it! Why can't we just go and get the artifact ourselves? And why the hell do I have to wear this gay apron?" Wolfram growled, tugging at the rather frilly attire.

"Suck it up, little Lord Brat," replied the spy with a smirk, closing his lipstick and hiding it back in a pocket as he rose from a chair. "This is a test for Yuuri; our job is to make sure he gets that artifact at the very least. If he gets caught is another matter entirely." ^^

Wolfram's lip twitched, "Have I ever told you before that I hate you?"

Gwendal frowned, suddenly getting a sinking feeling. Which was weird. He only got that feeling whenever his mother was around or involved in some way. _

Conrad paused, lowering his tea cup and whispering, "What's wrong?"

"Something troublesome, that's all..." Gwendal grumbled, rubbing his right temple.

Yozak entered the guest room with another tray of piping hot tea, followed by Wolfram who was obviously reluctant to carry a matching tray of assorted baked goods; upon spotting the familiar duo, the elder grinned and waltzed over, "Might I refill your tea cups, gentle sirs?"

Wolfram froze, staring wide eyed at his siblings.

Gwendal and Conrad both seemed for a second shocked, then both slid into their very well trained poker faces. Gwendal scowled and held up his cup expectantly.

Conrad smiled at Wolfram and beckoned him over. "I think a few more cakes are in order, madam."

Yozak smiled and lifted the pot of tea, tilting it gently as he poured the liquid into Gwendal's cup. He was watching Wolfram out of the corner of his eye though, and after he finished, he chuckled and straightened up, "Wolfina, come now. Don't be so shy, little one." 3

Wolfram turned bright red and sent Yozak a very evil glare, but shuffled over to Conrad and offered the tray out to him reluctantly.

Conrad smiled at him, allowing himself to admit Wolfram made a cute maid. He chose some of the cakes from Wolfram's tray and started eating one small cheesecake with a strawberry half settled in the top.

Gwendal took a sip of his refreshed tea and turned his gaze back to the mayor. "Now...if you will show us to the artifact?"

".. Oh shoot, I almost forgot... sir, I have a message for you from one of the other maids," Yozak set the pot of tea down on the table and curtsied, taking the mayor by the arm and dragging him out of the room before he could utter a word.

"H-hey! Don't leave me in here with them!" _

"I thought I ordered him to make sure Yuuri wouldn't find the artifact?" Conrad grumbled in slight annoyance. Was Yozak doing that, or betraying his orders?  
"That's why I don't approve of that man. Half the time, you can't tell who he really serves," Gwendal grumbled irritably.

"Well...no use waiting. Let's help ourselves and look around," Conrad suggested, getting to his feet.

Wolfram frowned and set down the tray at last, pulling at his clothes in dislike, "I-I heard that it was being kept in the basement... if that helps."

"Thank you, Wolfram. Keep an eye on heika," Conrad gave the blonde one of his smiles and left the room to find the door to the basement.

Gwendal got up and dusted his coat off, glancing at Wolfram for a second before he coughed into his hand and followed after Conrad.


	6. Part Six

Hey guys, Kyogou here again (who else would you expect…?) After much waiting, I am finally proud to present to you the… erm… first instance that makes this fic into an M rating. Yay! I know that's what you're all wanting to see, am I wrong? … Seriously, who doesn't?

Meanwhile, Yuuri was checking his watch until a half hour finally passed. Now would be the moment of truth to see if that potion really did make him undetectable... Sighing, the Maoh got to his feet and turned to the window to begin picking the lock with ease. Once it was gone, Yuuri looked around to make sure no one was watching, and the pushed open the glass so he could drop down inside.

Yuuri had managed to squeeze into the air duct system and was inching along through one of the very narrow passageways, starting to feel a little claustrophobic after many turns and one particularly nasty drop. Five minutes later, the maoh was spat out into a rather dark and chilly room, which he quickly assumed was the basement.

Rubbing the small of his back with a frown, Yuuri stood up and looked around, trying to see if he could spot anything that might look like a demon artifact... and to his surprise, was able to spot a long, black box with a few paper seals taped to it. It seemed to be... bouncing around. Raising a brow, he walked forward and reached out to pick it up, but before he was able to get his hands on it, a sudden wave of heat overtook him and he gasped, falling to his knees and clutching at his heart. What the hell...? It had felt so chilly only moments ago... now he felt as if his body was on fire. Talk about great timing...

"S-shit..." Yuri braced himself against a few wooden boxes as he struggled to fight off the growing pressure that was building itself up inside his body, making his legs wobble as he fought to stand up. As he leaned against the boxes and did his best to combat the ever-growing heat, he froze when he heard a door open somewhere above him and resounding footsteps that echoed across the room. What great timing... he sure hoped he was still invisible. Looking down at himself, he didn't see any change at all... he started to doubt whatever liquid that odd woman had given him. He never should have drank it, now he felt hot, shaky, at almost... was it lusting?

Grumbling as he pinched his nose bridge, Yuuri quickly grabbed the wiggling box and hid behind a few crates, pressing it to him tightly as if he was trying to use it to distract his mind from slowly, yet surely going down the gutter. If only he had stayed with Conrad and Gwendal and Wolfram... Images of each man flashed through his mind, yet...

"W-what the hell?" Yuuri shook his head when quick flashes of the corresponding men sexually taunting him ran through. Ugh, this wasn't right...! Just what was going on?

Gwendal checked a few days as they walked down the hall, finally finding one that opened to a staircase leading down. "Weller...this way."

Conrad apologized to the room of ladies he'd accidentally opened a door to and closed it up, turning to follow Gwendal down the wooden stairs

"Watch that last step," Gwendal's voice echoed in the large dark basement.

Conrad stepped too late for the warning though and quite rarely for him lost his balance and fell. "Ugh!"

Gwendal quickly caught Conrad and frowned. "Are you hurt?"

"Mmm...it's fine. Um...G-Gwendal?"

"Hai?"

"It's...poking into my thigh."

"Sorry...It tends to have a mind of its own."

"I noticed...its quite impressive."

"Well...you could thank my father's side of the family for that."

"...Gwendal...could I look at it?"

"...ok. But be gentle."

Yuuri froze again when he heard the oh so familiar voices of his comrades, no doubt worsening his condition both by hearing them alone... and just what the hell were they talking about? Can he see it? Be gentle...? They weren't seriously... in here...?

Gasping, the young Maoh furiously shook his head again. No, there was no way... it had to be the demon artifact corrupting his mind; Yozak had said that it ridded the purity of a person, so perhaps it was the artifact that was causing him to think this way... but... the heat coursing through him was growing at a ridiculous rate, making him shudder and struggle for air slightly. Breaths coming in pants, he waited just briefly before turning to look down at the covered box in his hands... It still hadn't stopped moving; what in the world was being sealed up inside this box? Did he dare open it...?

"This really is an impressive sword," Conrad happily noted, holding Gwendal's sword in his hand as he admired it.

Gwendal just sweatdropped and let Conrad go at it, his eyes drifting to look around. He then noticed the pedestal with a shaft of light illuminating it...and noticeably no artifact. "...Conrad...someone took the artifact."

Conrad pulled his attention away from the well-crafted handle and looked as well. "Oh dear..."

Yuuri tensed up more when he heard Gwendal's deep, resonating voice, feeling a shiver course through his body and up his spine in a giant wave. This really wasn't looking good... and by this point, he was pretty sure whatever that strange lady had given him was not an invisibility potion.

He was going to have to find a way out of his situation, and fast before he was stumbled upon by his two elder comrades. But he really was starting to become curious about what was jumping around inside the sealed box in his hands... surely a peek wouldn't hurt? It felt like he'd already lost his purity of mind from it, so...

Taking a slow, deep breath, Yuuri carefully peeled off the paper seal and gently removed the lid so he could peek inside...

"..." The Maoh was so shocked by what he was staring at that the wiggling caused the box lid to fly out of his hands, making the boy scramble after it with a yelp, but also making him drop the object in the process. Forgetting about the lid, Yuuri frantically dove after the dildo and lunged after it, managing to grasp it with both hands.. However, he then realized that his diving had brought him straight into view in front of the empty pedestal.. and Conrad and Gwendal's vision.

Conrad stared quietly at the scene, seemingly stunned beyond words.

Gwendal simply looked annoyed as always. "Heika..."

"H-Heika!" Conrad came out of his shock and ran over, lifting Yuuri up on his feet by the arms. "Heika, you shouldn't...you need to hand that thing over. It needs to be destroyed."

Conrad was beat red in the face, completely mortified that Yuuri had found it first and taken it from the box, thus seeing what it was.

Yuuri's grip suddenly tightened on the object and he shuddered, closing his eyes with a groan as he slumped back against Conrad with a violent tremble. The heat waves were getting worse, even more so as it was starting to stir up places he really didn't want stirred up right now.

"H-Heika?" Conrad stammered, fear gripping him as Yuuri suddenly collapsed and moaned in pain. "G-Gwendal! Something isn't right!"

Gwendal frowned and uncrossed his arms, striding over to stand in front of them both and rest his hand on Yuuri's forehead. "He's burning up. Heika, you need to let that artifact go."

At first, Yuuri still refused to let his grasp on the item go at all... and then it suddenly fell to the floor with a soft thud as the Maoh gripped onto the front of Gwendal's coat tightly, brushing up against him with another groan, "H-hot... can't... n-need to..."

His eyelids were set at half-mast as he wobbled a little, breaths coming in short pants as he struggled to stay in control.

Gwendal had the proper mindset to turn red ear from ear, having noticed a certain...um...hard lump brush his leg. "C-Conrad...um...Heika needs to see the doctor. Now." .

Conrad was also blushing, feeling a bit hot inside seeing Yuuri like this. But like Gwendal, he fought any dirty thoughts away and nodded stiffly. "H-Hai...I think you're right." .

Yuuri wobbled again and took another sharp inhalation, raising his now glazed gaze up to Gwendal's normally stoic one, not seeming to notice anything different in the other, "G-Gwendal... please... it burns."

"Relax...We'll get it fixed, heika," Gwendal assured him.

Conrad exchanged a look with Gwendal and nodded, scooping Yuuri gently up into his arms and hurrying out of that basement.

Gwendal grabbed the artifact with a handkerchief and followed after. "I'll send for Gisela. The local doctor is fine for now, but I'd prefer if Heika was in her hands."

"A good idea. Yuuri would probably be more relaxed with her, anyway," Conrad agreed, tightening his hold on Yuuri subconsciously.

Wolfram paused as he noticed both Gwendal and Conrad emerge and quickly move down the hall, his eyes widening upon noticing that his elder brother was carrying a rather ill-looking Maoh. He panicked and hastily followed after them.

Yuuri shuddered again and groaned, burying his heated face against the cool, soft feeling of the fabric coating Conrad's chest. If it wasn't the heat tormenting him, it was the undying need to go and screw something- or be screwed - that completely drove him out of his mind. Everything had happened so fast that he wasn't able to regain his rationality, and before he knew it, was even trying to undo the buttons on Conrad's jacket without thinking about it.

Conrad could feel the smaller hands on him and his jacket coming loose, doing his best to ignore them with a flush on his cheeks. Yuuri was under the effects of the artifact, that's all. He would never want Conrad like that otherwise. "..."

"Wolfram, send word for Gisela, immediately," Gwendal instructed the blonde since he'd joined them.

It took a few moments for Yuuri to triumph over the first few buttons so he could push past them and pull down Conrad's undershirt just enough to expose the soft skin beneath his collarbone. Yuuri leaned forward, pressing his heated lips to the spot and allowing his tongue to brush against it in preparation for making a mark.  
"GAH!" Conrad shouted and almost dropped Yuuri, but thankfully or rather not thankfully the king had a good grip on his shoulders.

"Conrad?" Gwendal frowned in concern at the brunette's back.

"N-Nothing! It's nothing. Gwendal, get that artifact stowed away. I'll keep an eye on Yuuri till the nurse arrives..." Conrad stammered, hurrying into a spare room and closing it on the two. There was no way he'd let them see Yuuri attached to him like this. It would embarrass him to no end and get him and Yuuri beat up by Wolfram.

"H-Heika...please...get a hold of yourself," Conrad begged, attempting to pry Yuuri off his neck.

Yuuri only continued to cling to the other's coat with abnormal strength, running his tongue up the small expansion of skin again. It was hard to tell if he was aware of his actions or not, but it also appeared that he wasn't about to let up any time soon.

"Heika, please," Conrad groaned and carried Yuuri to the bed, setting him on it so he could use both hands to pry Yuuri off.

Yuuri only yanked on the other's coat harder and brought him down atop the Maoh, suddenly pressing his lips to Conrad's with newfound vigor.

Conrad made a noise of surprise, then groaned, closing his eyes and for a moment losing himself in Yuuri's enthusiastic kiss. "..."

Groaning at the gained heat, Yuuri clung tighter to Conrad with regained fervor and arched off the bed enough to pressed his straining arousal against the soldier's lower abdomen in hopes of relieving some of the pent up tension there

Conrad moaned and wrapped Yuuri up in his arms, taking control of the kiss and using his knee to rub between Yuuri's legs. He couldn't win, not like this. Not with how he really felt for the younger male.

Yuuri gasped suddenly and arched further with a shudder, lost within the blossoming pleasure that was sending sparks throughout his entire body; he'd never felt this good before... The growing need to be consumed by another was to the point of being overwhelming, but finding relief in such a handsome, perfect man such as Conrad... He surrendered himself completely to the elder without a care in the world.

Conrad parted their kiss and moved to gently suck on the skin under Yuuri's ear, listening to Yuuri's moans as he continued to rub the place hurting his king.

"Yuuri...Forgive me," Conrad murmured, slipping a hand in under the other's waistband and gripping the hard flesh there, using his knee now only to hold Yuuri in that spot as he began to stroke the young man's need with experienced, firm strokes.

"Ah! C-Conrad..!" The young Maoh whimpered and bucked up into him, having never before felt someone else's hand on that place, but oh... nothing had felt more desirable in his life.

Conrad moved a little so he was on his side, pulling Yuuri's back against him and spooning the smaller male, continuing to stroke him in the best way he could. He played with Yuuri's ear with his tongue and teeth, hard as a rock himself but ignoring it in favor of helping Yuuri escape his pain.

"H-hah! Conrad...! Conrad!" Yuuri's hips jerked violently with every movement of Conrad's expert hand, desperate to get more friction any way he could. When he came down from a thrust, he would grind himself backwards onto the brunette's rather obvious erection concealed beneath the military uniform.

Conrad groaned and pulled Yuuri down harder against his groin, grinding into him as he panted hotly against Yuuri's neck.

Yuuri's strangled cries broke the momentary silence, feeling such an intense mixture of pleasurable emotions that it simply overloaded his senses. Reaching behind with one of his hands, he threaded his shaking digits through the slightly dampened brunette strands passionately, "A-ah...!"

"Y-Yuuri..." Conrad chocked out the other's name, moving to gently bite down on Yuuri's neck, his free hand gripping Yuuri's thigh and coaxing his legs to spread and provide better access to both his stroke and grinding against the boy.

"C-Conrad!" Yuuri's whimpers and pleading cries soon followed every time he was able to get the other's name off his tongue, his head lolling to the side away from Conrad as to allow him better access to his shoulder and neck area.

"Come for me, Yuuri. It'll make you feel better," Conrad groaned, kissing along Yuuri's neck and shoulder where he could find skin.

Yuuri's twitching and thrashing accelerated incredibly from the sensations and it came to a point where he couldn't hold it any longer, releasing violently into Conrad's hand and the bed sheets beneath them both, "H-hah!"

Conrad winced as he gripped Yuuri, milking his release and feeling himself lose his own control. The pleasure hazed his mind and consumed his body, along with the joy of knowing he'd made Yuuri feel that good feeling to.

Yuuri's gasps and groans continued until he finally shuddered one last time, collapsing back against Conrad with a soft moan as his eyes closed... and just like that, he was out like a light from the intensity. x_X

Conrad lay there, quietly holding the exhausted Yuuri as his body relished its release and cooled down. And as the pleasure died, the guilt and sadness started to rear their ugly head. Had he really just done that to Yuuri? Taken advantage of him?

Yuuri remained knocked out for quite some time, allowing Conrad to easily clean him up without much resistance.

Conrad sighed sadly, hugging Yuuri just a moment before he moved to get up and grab a moist towel to clean them both up with.

The soldier and fixed up everything, including their clothes, then proceeded to pace back and forth as he had a mental breakdown. What now? He'd done such a thing to Yuuri. Yuuri who trusted him and looked to him as a godfather. Yuuri's actions had only been caused by the artifact. It seemed it gained demonic properties when it had been brought over to this side. But his actions had been his own. "..."

Yuuri eventually groaned and rolled over on his side.

And Conrad almost died of a heart attack on the spot. Ok...if Yuuri woke up. Deny everything. It was just a heated dream he had. .

Fortunately for Conrad, Yuuri didn't seem to wake up just yet.

Wolfram blinked at the now closed door, as he had been about to turn around and get Gisela when Conrad had suddenly yelped. It was then he remembered the artifact and he turned to his eldest brother with a frown, "The artifact, you found it? What is i-..."

His eyes caught a glimpse of what it was and he froze, "W-wait, that's m-..."

Gwendal's attention snapped to Wolfram. "What do you mean, that's yours?" _

Wolfram paled more than he'd ever had before in his life, "E-er... I mean... it's not mine, I was just going to say... it's... m-mortifying that the artifact is really something like that." _''

Gwendal did not believe a word of that. In fact, if he thought about it...it all made sense. "We will be discussing this with Conrad later." 8(

Wolfram gained a rather gloomy aura before it suddenly turned to something much more lethal, his thoughts straying to who might have managed to sneak into his room and take his things...

"Wolfram, what exactly does this artifact do?" Gwendal irritably asked the blonde.

"Erm..." Wolfram paused, not quite sure how to explain just exactly what a dildo did. "It... makes you... happy?"

"..." Gwendal's glare narrowed further, not believing that statement. Taking hold of Wolfram, he started off to send for Gisela with the intentions of further questioning the blonde afterwards.

"H-hey! Hey! I'm not joking!" Wolfram struggled as he was dragged down the hall, not pleased in the least.

Gwendal stopped only when they found paper and pencil. He wrote a message and tied it to a carrier pigeon and let it loose. "Now...tell me where you found it." 8(

"... I have no obligation to share that sort of information with you, Lord von Voltaire," Wolfram grumbled, folding his arms tightly across his chest and avoiding his elder brother's stern gaze.

"And would you like me to let Yuuri know the artifact is yours?" 8(

Wolfram's expression flashed to one of hurt for only a split second, "It's that pathetic wimp's fault to begin with..."

"You can't blame him. We all know it was an accident that made you his fiancé. You'll only hurt yourself if you continue to dwell in this fantasy," Gwendal sighed.

"..." Wolfram's hands fisted and he turned around, hiding his tears of frustration. "T-that's easy for you to say! You've never been in love before... how the hell would you know anything about how I feel?"

"I do...I have fallen in love. But its because it will never be returned, that I've learned to live with reality," Gwendal explained to him.

"Shut up! You don't fucking know anything!" Wolfram yelled at his elder brother as he felt the stinging tears of rejection welling up again for at least the dozenth time.

Gwendal sighed and wrapped his arms around Wolfram, hugging him tightly against him. "I'm sorry."

Wolfram tensed up completely, hating the fact that the other was able to see him in such a beaten down state of weakness... but there were just those times where one couldn't take any more. Shoulders trembling, the blonde-haired noble bit back a sob and finally turned in his elder brother's hold so that he could hide his face in the soft folds of Gwendal's uniform.

Gwendal sweatdropped and grunted a little. Well...hugging was one thing, but crying was something he wasn't entirely used to. Glancing around for help, which he'd get none, Gwendal sighed and awkwardly held tight to Wolfram, caressing his hair in what he hoped was soothing strokes. _"

The blonde-haired noble was oddly quiet as he allowed the bitter tears to escape his ducts, not often showing this side to anyone. His elder brother was definitely not the person he had in mind, but... there was something calming about being safe in Gwendal's arms. Just enough to dull the pain somewhat.

Gwendal sighed. Why did he have to be the eldest? Sometimes he had to curse his mother's promiscuity. Well...Wolfram was kind of...cute...when he wasn't being a spoiled, annoying brat.

"... Gwendal," Wolfram spoke softly, his voice a little hoarse and quivering, but still firm. "You can't tell either of them... about this. Especially Yuuri... please?"

"We'll strike a deal. I won't tell Yuuri. But as for Conrad, if you willingly dispose of the artifact and any others you might have, I won't tell him."

If it had been anyone else asking him, the brat noble would have normally disregarded whatever proposition he was being offered, but this was his big brother, Gwendal... someone he looked up to constantly. Swallowing, Wolfram finally nodded, "O-okay..."

"I know you didn't mean any harm. But whatever that thing was originally meant for, it has become mutated by demonic powers. It's best to rid of it while we can," Gwendal assured him, rubbing his back soothingly.

Wolfram frowned against his brother's chest at that, "Something still doesn't seem right, though... when I brought it here, it didn't do anything other than it was supposed to do."

"It's like I said. It's not from this world, so the different magic of our world must have poisoned its true nature," Gwendal guessed.

"Still..." Wolfram furrowed his brows and gently started to wipe his eyes.

"Don't worry. We'll fix things," Gwendal assured him, trying to ignore how cute Wolfram looked doing that. _

"Okay... if anyone can figure out this mess, it's you," Wolfram finally pulled away and tried to regain his composure, hurt still flickering through his eyes but now it was under control.

Gwendal straightened his coat, trying to regain his own gruff composure.

"We should go check on Lord Weller and Yuuri," Wolfram noted and slid his hands into his pockets before turning to lead the way back to the room.

"Yes..." Gwendal curtly replied and followed, trying to straighten his shoulders and look imposing again.


	7. Part Seven

-1"Where's the healer?" Conrad grumbled, now pacing back and forth.

As if on cue, there was a gentle knock on the door and a male's voice sounded from the other side, "Is this the room the ill is being kept in..?"

Conrad jumped a mile high and then nervously went to answer the door, trying to hide any agitation. "G-Gisela...I'm glad you got here fast."

It wasn't Gisela, but rather a man with violet hair drawn back into a neat ponytail, glasses set just a bit lower than normal on his nose bridge, in which he pushed up in mild confusion, "Ah... Sir Conrart, right? Sorry, your private nurse still may be a while, but I happened to be traveling alongside your mother and thought I'd at least see if I could offer some help... my name is Sir Leica von Daemont, but you can just call me Leica." ^^

"Ah...It's a pleas-wait a minute. My mother?" Conrad immediately frowned at that. If his mother was in this town...oh he was going to kill her.

"Ah, yes... Lady Cecilie? You're very fortunate to have such a beautiful woman for a mother, and the previous Demon Queen at that. Anyhow... the boy..." Leica pointed to Yuuri's sleeping form.

"Go ahead...but be careful. He's the Maoh," Conrad warned.

"The Maoh..?" Leica raised a brow and strode over to where Yuuri was, kneeling down to brush aside some of the red hair. "I thought he was supposed to be a double black..."

"Please, refrain from the ignorant comments. Its hair dye and contacts," Conrad sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't want to sound irritated, but he wasn't in a very calm condition at the moment.

Leica adjusted his glasses a second time, "My apologies... I wasn't informed that it was the Maoh himself that had happened upon this town. Quite a coincidence, really..."

The medic reached out and pressed the back of his hand to Yuuri's forehead with a serious expression across his face, pausing immediately after a few moments of remaining perfectly still, "... Were you the one who gave this man an aphrodisiac?"

That earned him a death glare from Conrad. "I would NEVER slip heika an aphrodisiac!"

"Well someone did... either that or he took one himself. The kinds of flushes appearing on his face resemble those that appear when a consumption of liquid aphrodisiac occurs," Leica pulled his hand away and frowned, "that and it smells rather suspicious in here... has the boy been guarded in this room for very long?"

"Yes." Conrad answered calmly. "Actually, the room smelled like this when we arrived. But heika needed put to bed immediately. We didn't want his fever to get worse, so we haven't bothered opening a window.

"Hm," Leica looked back to the young Maoh and got to his feet, rolling up his sleeves with a sigh. "Well, I can relieve the fever, but it will only be temporary since we must wait for the aphrodisiac to run full course. Once that's done, we should be able to take care of it."

"There isn't anything to counteract the aphrodisiac?" Conrad asked with a worried frown.  
"It seems the aphrodisiac has already been counteracted... how that happened, I'm not quite sure, but the worst of it has already passed," Leica assured him with a gentle smile.

"I see...the Maoh's will and powers are strong. I wouldn't have expected any less," Conrad smiled and bowed his head in a gesture of acceptance. Yes...hundreds of years of age had made him a good liar.

Leica just smiled and looked back to the slumbering king, "For a boy of seventeen, he certainly doesn't seem to be what one would think a Demon King to look like. He must be truly remarkable."

"YUURI!" At that moment, Wolfram decided to burst in the door with a worried expression, pausing when he saw Leica and his brother standing not too far away. "..."

"... Oh! What a cute maid, is she with you?" Leica smiled at Conrad again.

Wolfram's eye twitched, grabbing the little frilly bonnet atop his head and ripping it off before throwing the thing to the ground, "H-how dare you! I will have you know that I am the youngest son of the former Demon Queen, Lady Cecilie! I am Wolfram von Bielefeld, not some dainty little-!" 8(

"Hai...isn't she cute? Very high spirited. Seems to be just a bit delusional, though. She thinks she's the 'son' of my mother," Conrad playfully teased.

Gwendal stepped in behind Wolfram, quirking a lip in amusement.

This promptly earned a kick to the shin from Wolfram, "Lord Weller!" 8(

"So this is where everyone's hanging out now," Yozak waltz into the room last, leaning against the wall with a confident smirk. "Good to see that everyone's assembled!" ^^

Conrad weathered the attack with a soldier's grace, then mentally frowned when Yozak entered. Great...he could fool the entire kingdom but for one man, who knew him to well.

As if to further prove Conrad's point, Yozak stopped for a moment and seemed to wrinkle his nose, as if he was able to immediately distinguish the scent he was picking up. His eyes flickered briefly to Yuuri asleep on the bed, and then to Conrad... but he said nothing, smiling instead, "Well, looks like we found our missing King. I was starting to get a bit worried, honestly." ^^

Wolfram was giving Yozak a death glare, most likely because of the man forcing him to dress in the maid's costume.

Conrad did his best to avoid Yozak's eyes, knowing the man would pin his crime mentally right there. Though he knew his friend would never speak aloud around the others, thankfully.  
It was a good thing that Conrad avoided Yozak's gaze, because the former had a wave of sadness in his eyes for only a few moments that were perfectly timed with Conrad's avoidance. When he looked back, however, Yozak hid it and walked over to lean over Yuuri, "Man, he looks pretty out of it... Was the artifact found, at least?"

Wolfram immediately made a face, shuffling.

"Hai..." Gwendal frowned and carefully pulled the wrapped item from his pocket only for a moment, before placing it away again. "Though there's something that bothers me. Why does the artifact like a man's di-"

"OK!" Conrad immediately cut him off with a bright smile and clap of his hands. "Mission complete then. Heika will recover and things will be fine. We should probably head on back to Blood Pledge Castle now. I'm sure his majesty would prefer his own bed." ^^'

"..."

"Agreed. I'm sure everyone back at the castle is very worried," Yozak agreed with a nod, bending down to scoop Yuuri into his arms as to carry him.

"W-we should wait... Lord von Voltaire sent for Gisela, and I'm sure some of the Skelleton tribe will be accompanying her. It'll be easier to transport..." Wolfram spoke up.

"Ah...right. I almost forgot," Conrad wilted just a little. Damn, well...he'd honestly only made the suggestion as a method of cutting off Gwendal's verbal observations. Really, no one needed to start guessing what that artifact was used for. .

"Well I guess it shouldn't be long then. I would suggest getting out of this room at least and perhaps to a better place," Yozak shifted Yuuri in his arms, heading for the door with a sigh.

"I agree," Conrad followed, wanting to get out of the room before the guilt gnawed off his head.

Gwendal sighed and followed, sweatdropping slightly. So his suspicions about the artifact were close or maybe even right on.

"Guess I'll come along then, just in case," Leica smiled and headed after them, staring one more time at Wolfram before following after the others.

Wolfram frowned, feeling very awkward. He couldn't wait to get out of this damn dress... his brothers were never going to let him live it down. _

Conrad followed Yozak, frowning at the back of the red-head. Yozak was being rather forward in nature then normal, rather then his quiet habit of standing off to the side.

When the group got outside, most of them were mildly surprised to see the boney tribe already there waiting for them with Gisela. Yozak carefully handed Yuuri over to a few of the boneys, "Not sure what's wrong with him, but he's got a fever."

"He's consumed an aphrodisiac," Leica explained more thoroughly. "How or when is unsure, but it had to have been at least an hour ago."

"An aphrodisiac? No way..." Immediately, Yozak's eyes flickered to Conrad again.

"It was her doing, I know it," Conrad growled a little.

"Mother's...right? I heard a bit ago that she was in town," Gwendal had to agree. It wasn't as though their beloved mommy hadn't tried to use an aphrodisiac on Yuuri before. _

"And Leica-san will confirm that, seeing as he's her doctor at the moment," Conrad agreed, meeting Gwendal's gaze unhappily.

"So Lady Cecilie is here...?" Yozak frowned as well, starting to get a better idea of what was going on, but still...

"Speaking of such, perhaps I should go and see if she's still around and will meet you folks back at home. It was a pleasure meeting you all," Leica smiled and bowed slightly, then turned around to take off.

"Oh...Leica-san, one moment," Conrad called out, catching the man by the arm. He smiled his gentle, friendly, charming smile, sparkles just behind his head as he said, "Please pass on a message to mother, that if she continues to place strange potions in or around his majesty, we might have to become rather disrespectful children." ^_^3

"Alright, I'll make sure it gets to her," Leica smiled in return and turned to head off, sweatdropping as he walked away. _They really are related... __

Conrad turned to Yozak then, frowning at Yuuri's sleeping form. He only hoped Yuuri wouldn't remember what all had happened.

Yozak was avoiding Conrad's eyes now, staring down at Yuuri with a sort of frown. If what he was suspecting was correct... then there really was no hope.

Conrad of course was completely oblivious about Yozak's feelings, turning to Gisela. "Can you make sure heika is fine? I know its an aphrodisiac, but the wrong dose or exposure to a foreign substance he's not used to could cause a negative reaction in his body.

Gisela nodded, "Certainly, you can leave it to me. I brought only the fastest flyers with me, so it'll only take about twenty minutes to get back to the castle."

Conrad nodded understandably and looked to Wolfram. "Wolfram, you should go with heika. Make sure he's fine. The rest of us will handle the mess here and make our way back to the castle by ground. We'll be counting on you to guard both the maoh and the castle till our return."

It was a bigger responsibility then perhaps he'd given their youngest brother before, but he felt that Wolfram was in deed growing up and deserved a little more trust. That and deep down, a part of him still longed for his brother's forgiveness and acceptance again.

Gwendal frowned at them, but not because he disapproved in any sense. He understood Conrad's reasons and felt that perhaps Wolfram could be given a chance as well. That and Gwendal had been born with that frown.

Wolfram was very silent before he frowned and looked away, "Gunter is still back at the castle, so he can do it until I get back. I think I'm just going to ride there instead; flying's never agreed with me too well."

That was partially true, as with his seasickness came another issue with airsickness... but also he didn't particularly want to be around Yuuri when he woke up. It was already hard enough having to come to terms with a one-sided relationship.

Yozak frowned as well, but didn't contradict, instead throwing him his clothes, "Well either way, you'd better get out of that costume... I don't want it getting dirty, you know."

Conrad hesitated at this response, not having expected that. He glanced questioningly at Gwendal, and when the other turned his eyes away from the brunette, he had to frown and sigh.

He turned back to Wolfram, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder as he leaned down slightly to say more softly between them. "There is no shame in your feelings, Wolfram. He is the first...decent...king we'd had in yours or even our lifetime. In a way...we all love him in ways that would never be acknowledged or returned. Don't be disheartened by it. Turn it into your strength. Make it the drive that helps you grow into a stronger man and warrior."

He straightened back up and flashed the blonde a gentle, warm smile. "Now...I agree with Yozak. Hurry up and change. If you'll be staying, we have work to do."

Gwendal felt a little guilty after the look Conrad gave him. But he was only doing what he thought was best to try and protect the younger male. It would be best if they all simply gave up, locked things away, and focused on their duties as knights of the Maoh.

The moment the other's hand came in contact with him, Wolfram tensed up and eventually smacked Conrad's hand away with a venomous glare, tone dripping with obvious loathing as he growled, "I've told you not to touch me, you disgusting half breed... It's because of you that Yuuri will never feel the same in the first place!"

Snatching up his clothes, the blonde stormed off back towards the inn with frustrated tears at the edges of his eyes, calling over his shoulder after a moment, "I'm not staying here with you, I'll be riding back on my own! See you losers later.."

Yozak's eyes softened, understanding Wolfram's pain all too well... it was because of Yuuri that Conrad's feelings would never be his own either.

Conrad watched him go, actually looking rather hurt by the reaction. It seemed...no matter how hard he tried...that no one really wanted him around. Not Yuuri, not Wolfram...

Sighing, Yozak pondered on what road he was going to take. He could sense Conrad's unrest around him, knowing that the other was only waiting for the orange-haired agent to question him to confirm his own fears. That didn't seem necessary, however... Oh what to do.

Wolfram slumped down against the wall of the bathroom, resting his chin atop his knees while his arms encircled his legs. Now he just felt as awful as he had when Gwendal had blatantly forced him to see the truth he had worked so hard to ignore. Not only was that giving him a hard time when he really didn't need it, but now he felt uneasy about his other sibling... he had looked up to him a long time ago, more so than he ever had with Gwendal. Of course, that was shattered when the blonde learned of Conrad's blood. But Yuuri wasn't any different than Conrad was in that sense, and he'd learned to make an exception for their Maoh.

"Y-Yozak..." Conrad hesitated, feeling a little fragile but not wanting it to be shown. "Let's go scout the town and make sure the artifacts influence here is done with."

He moved to get on his horse, wanting to get to work before he had much time to think.

Gwendal sighed and got onto his own steed. "I'll leave with Gisela then and ensure the Maoh's safety from the ground."

Conrad nodded to Gwendal.

Yozak frowned, but masked his feelings about this flawlessly like he always did, "Sure. Right behind you."

Conrad relaxed then and offered the red-head a smile, glad that he at least had Yozak.

Nodding, Yozak waved his goodbye to Gwendal before going to saddle up on his horse, brushing some of his wavy red hair behind an ear, "Let's get a move on then, shall we?"

Conrad smiled thankfully to him, glad to always have Yozak on his side at least. "Hai...we'll start a sweep from the east to the west."

"Sounds simple enough to me," agreed the other with a nod. "I'll handle all the talking this time, so just sit back and relax, you got that?"

"Oh? All right then," Conrad smiled warmly, amused at the order but taking it lightly.

"You look like you need the break," Yozak explained casually, and then turned his horse about to lead the way.  
Conrad glanced down sadly, then followed after Yozak, putting on another of his unreadable smiles. "Yozak...what would you think if I took a much longer break?"

Yozak was silent before he finally replied, "You probably need it. It's not like I would stop you.."

"I was...hoping you might join me. I was considering heading back to the branch house...Yuuri is well taken care of, so I don't think he'd miss my absence," Conrad quietly explained, still staring off to the side. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to face Yuuri without feeling completely guilt ridden.

"So in other words, you're too ashamed to go back there after what transpired between the two of you in that room," Yozak murmured, unable to keep the words back after that remark. He was pretty sure he knew what had happened between his best friend and the maoh. "Don't be so selfish. If I were in his Highness' position, I would be deeply concerned if my closest friend suddenly vanished without a word, never to return."

Shifting in his saddle, the redhead finally turned a little to face Conrad with a firm, yet torn expression, "You shouldn't trifle with feelings so carelessly; you'll only end up hurting people more."

Conrad's own expression was torn, despite the smile he was forcing himself to show. "So...I was right. I never could hide anything from you. Still...even if leaving Yuuri would upset him, what can I possibly do? I took advantage of him in his moment of weakness. I broke his trust...I couldn't possibly continue to serve as his loyal guardian and godfather after that."

"Conrad, you're missing the point. An aphrodisiac _enhances_ sexual desire, meaning nothing's going to happen in the first place if there isn't some sort of attraction there in the first place," Yozak tightened his grip on the reins. "Yuuri's trust isn't the one you've broken, don't worry."

"Still...it wouldn't ever go further. He is the maoh and...let's face it. I'm a half-breed and nothing more then a soldier," Conrad argued with a soft shake of his head, turning his gaze on Yozak. "Anyway...what's gotten to you? You seem less cheerful then normal."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Yozak replied immediately, turning back around on his horse. "We really should get this done and return to the castle as soon as possible. Let's not loiter."

"Now I know something is wrong," Conrad frowned, urging his horse ahead and pulling in front of Yozak. "Yozak, we've known each other sense our academy days. I can read you as well as you can me. Now...what's happened?"

"You're the last person I would want to talk to about it!" Yozak growled suddenly, his hands gripping the reins tightly again. "Just let me do my work and leave, damnit!"

Conrad looked taken aback and slightly hurt, finding himself suddenly pushed away by who he'd thought was his best friend. "...I see...I'm sorry, Yozak. I won't bother you anymore."

Sighing, Conrad turned his horse away and tapped its side, heading at a trot down another ally and away from Yozak.

Yozak felt his nails dig into the flesh of his palms as he watched Conrad turn away, feeling instantly guilty for saying such a thing to his closest friend, but... there was no way he was going to burden poor Conrad with more one-sided feelings, not after what happened between the other and Yuuri, and now Wolfram's added outburst.

Sighing, Yozak rested his head in his hands for a moment, "Stupid..."

Conrad sighed as he made his way around town, trying to burry the ache in his heart by focusing on his task and only that.  
It was a long moment of thinking, but Yozak finally decided he'd better follow along behind Conrad just in case the other tried to do something irrational... he couldn't just leave him completely, not after this whole fiasco. Jerking on the reigns of his horse, the redhead steered the steed back to the alley Conrad had vanished down in hopes of finding him soon.

Conrad blindly carried out his business, then started down the road back to Blood Pledge Castle. Unfortunately, he had time now with nothing to do and let out a heavy sigh. He felt like he had back then...before Yuuri...before Julia...before Yozak. When he was the half-breed...the other son suddenly brought in to a large castle and abandoned by his little brother.  
Yozak followed not too far behind, fortunately having found the other not too long after the soldier had left the town. Torn between catching up the rest of the way to Conrad and lingering behind, the redhead sighed and continued forward.

Conrad hmmed and rubbed his neck, figuring he'd just go on back to what was his home when he wasn't at the castle. Maybe he'd see how the horses were doing. As Conrad continued to think, it started to rain lightly.

"... Just peachy," Yozak looked up to the sky as he felt the soft raindrops fall upon his face. Just what he needed to further dampen his mood... and he wasn't wearing a sleeved shirt either, so chances were if it started to rain harder, he'd catch a cold.

Conrad didn't seem to mind the rain. It was nature's way of telling him in some way he wasn't completely alone. He shrugged off the droplets, remember his travels with his father once, then chuckled and felt just a little better

Yozak watched at what he presumed was Conrad laughing a bit, "Great, now he's starting to lose his mind... hell, I've already done away with my own over this."

Shaking his head and brushing some of the wet strands of orange from his vision, the man finally decided to start making his way down while Conrad still remained in one place, planning on joining him silently.

Conrad quietly glanced to the side as Yozak silently appeared next to him, turning his head away with a renewed frown. He didn't understand what Yozak was mad at him for, and it rather hurt.

Having seen this coming, Yozak took the cold shoulder with toleration, sighing as he shielded his eyes from the rain, "...Conrart... That was my bad. I really shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you. There are just some things I'd rather not burden you with."

"By keeping such things from me, you burden me with your sorrow," Conrad pointed out, kicking his horse into a light walk.

"Trust me, that's a lot better than the alternative..." Yozak murmured softly and kicked his horse as well, following after his companion.

"I can't imagine anything worse. Unless your really a spy and your planning to kill me or heika, there isn't anything you could say that would anger me," Conrad argued lightly, a little confused. He really couldn't imagine any topic leading him to hate Yozak.

"Nah, I don't think it's a matter of making you mad, Conrad. You've just got a lot on your mind right now and... well, let's just say it's probably a smarter idea to figure out this thing with His Majesty before you worry about someone else's feelings. And I'm here to help you, so things will be alright, kay?" Yozak masked himself with a genuine caring smile, pushing away the slightly sickening feeling that had plagued him since he had put two and two together of what must have happened in the room back there. Right now, Conrad was his best, and in many ways, his only friend. He wasn't about to let something so trivial get in the way when Conrad was already having problems sorting things out.  
Conrad stared quietly at Yozak, suddenly puzzled by what the other had said. What had he meant just then? 'To figure out things between himself and Yuuri, and not worry about Yozak's feelings.' Yozak's feelings...did that mean...of course. Yozak was probably in love with Yuuri too. That would explain why he was so apparently unsettled by his knowledge of what Conrad had done.

Feeling very ashamed of himself now, Conrad stared down at the reigns in his hands with self-disgust.

Yozak paused, noticing the immediate change in Conrad's expression and feeling a pang of guilt surge through him again. Maybe the other had managed to figure out what was going on and was now utterly disgusted with him. Great... just great. Now not only was he in jeopardy of losing his closest friend, but... ugh, he didn't even want to think about it.

"I'm sorry, Yozak. I shouldn't have done what I did. I understand if you hate me now," Conrad spoke up in the middle of Yozak's mental self-attack.  
"Hah, what are you talking about..." Yozak murmured, raising a hand to cover his eyes that gave away so much despite the smile he was forcing. "If anyone should be disgusted with anyone else, it should be me that's the disturbing one. Bet you never thought your best friend would be feeling something as sick as this for another grown man, eh?"

"Yozak, its ok. If you feel that way for Yuuri, its understandable. In a way, we all do. There's nothing wrong with loving somebody. I'm just sorry that I touched something important to you with no self-control in tact," Conrad frowned at him, reassuring his friend.

"No, it's not ok just becau-... wait, what?" Yozak turned to give his companion an incredulous look, baffled by what he was saying. "Wait, Yuuri? What... what would ever compel me to go after our Highness? I think we're talking about two completely different people here!" _  
"Then...it's not Yuuri?" Conrad frowned, immediately struck with curiosity. He leaned over, eyeing Yozak with a puzzled expression. "Then who?"

"Uh..." Yozak paused. So... Conrad didn't know his secret then? Great, then how was he supposed to say something like this to his best friend? Spies weren't trained for this...!

Feeling a little flustered, the redhead covered his mouth and coughed, "Well... he's tall and handsome, very kind and considerate to everyone, and has the most charming smile a brunette could ever possibly have." 3

Conrad was quiet as he thought that through, trying to recall anybody that fit that description. Tall, quiet, kind, brunette... "Did he go to the same academy as us?" O_o

"Well... technically, yes. He did," Yozak raised a brow in return, glad that he was the spy in this situation and not Conrad. The other certainly wasn't good at solving riddles. _

"Come on, Yozak! That was over 200 years ago. Who is it?" Conrad turned, actually pouting at Yozak if anyone cared to take notice.

"Nuh-uh, I already gave you a few hints. If you can't figure it out yourself, then it's going to forever remain a mystery," Yozak smirked and shook his head no.

Conrad huffed and urged his horse closer to Yozak's, leaning in close and looking up into Yozak's face. "Tell me." 8(

Yozak remained firm despite his heart feeling a little overwhelmed by the close proximity, "Nope."

"Yozak! That's not fair!" Conrad exclaimed in exasperation, looking upset that he didn't know.

"But it really isn't that hard! I mean come on, you're the only brunette around h-... shit," Yozak sweatdropped. _; That hadn't come out the way he had meant it to.

"Hm?" Conrad straightened, blinking at that. Then it came to him. "You mean...its someone outside of the demon kingdom!" O_O

"..." Yozak just stared at the other for the longest time. "... Yeah, sure. It's someone outside the demon kingdom."

Rolling his eyes, the redhead gave up and motioned for the other to follow, "Now come on, I hate being in the rain... I want to get somewhere dry as soon as possible."

Conrad followed, looking slightly agitated now. Who could Yozak be in love with that lived outside of the kingdom? This was really bugging him. Yozak never kept quiet about this sort of thing before. Could this person possibly be...the one? But then, why wouldn't Yozak tell him!

Yozak, on the other hand, had deducted that loving someone like Conrad was out of the question if his friend had really lost that many brain cells in such a short amount of time. -_-''

Conrad sighed, suddenly rather depressed again. Brunette, tall, handsome, and from outside the kingdom but had attended the same academy as them. He didn't really know anyone that fit that description. But he'd always been rather detached from people until just a while back.

Fortunately, it wasn't that long of a ride before they reached a little, out in the boonies inn that they could stop at and seek shelter from the rain that had started to progress into a downpour. Yozak sighed as he entered and rung out some of the water from his hair, hoping that this place would have something he could snack on too.

Conrad followed inside and removed his wet coat, staring out the door at the rain that had turned heavier. His hair was matted to his face, water droplets trailing down his skin and underneath into clothes. He hadn't thought it would get that heavy.

Yozak calmly walked up to the front desk to order them a round of drinks, waiting patiently for them and then bringing Conrad his, "Here... should warm the heart with all this rain drenching us." ^^

Conrad smiled softly at the gesture and gratefully accepted the drink, taking a long sip of the liquid.  
The redhead just smiled and went to sit down at the table, tapping the side of his drink as he allowed himself to sink back into his thoughts.  
Conrad joined him after retrieving some towels for them.

Mindlessly accepting the towel, Yozak casually draped it over his head and rubbed at the slightly drenched orange strands.

Conrad sat, his own towel around his neck, and took another long drink. "...Yozak. I was wondering...this personal is definitely someone outside the kingdom. It couldn't be like...me...?"

Yozak quietly looked at him from the corner of his eyes, then shrugged and continued drying his hair, "Could be."

"It could...? You mean...you'd think about me like that?" Conrad looked genuinely surprised. It had never occurred to him that someone else might look at him in such a way. Normally, he'd always been the one doing the looking.

"Well why not? You're a good-looking bachelor like the rest of us, kind and considerate to others... you always know how to make people smile, which is sure something I can't do," explained the redhead.

"Ridiculous. You've always known what to do to make me smile. I wouldn't have made it through the war without you," Conrad smiled gently with a sweatdrop. Hearing Yozak talk himself down was so odd.  
"Well yes, for you. I mean that you have a way of making everyone smile, even if they know you or not... it's just a natural thing about you, get what I'm saying?" Yozak tried to explain, peeking out from under the towel atop his head.

"Hai...I suppose. I wasn't always that way...but knowing Julia's soul will be fine removed a heavy burden," Conrad admitted.

"And what's important is who you are now, not what you were back then," Yozak smiled gently at him.

"Hai...the same goes for you. Don't be so hard on yourself, Yozak. If it is me...it's ok. I don't hate you. And I'm not disgusted," Conrad smiled warmly at Yozak.  
"But it's obvious you desire Yuuri," Yozak sighed and dropped the towel back over his head, hiding his expression perfectly as he returned to drying his hair.

"So it is me...I never figured I'd be a possibility. Yes...I do love Yuuri. But its an impossibly one-sided love. Yuuri is Wolfram's fiancé, and I couldn't bear to give Wolfram another reason to hate me. I swore I would lock those feelings away... if only my mother hadn't played around with those aphrodisiacs of hers," Conrad sighed and slumped, folding his hands together. He didn't know what to do or say. He didn't want to lose his best friend, but he couldn't stand Yozak being unhappy because of him.

"I honestly don't think it's as one-sided as you believe it to be, Conrad. If His Majesty really didn't care that much about you, he could have easily gone to someone else, but you obviously were his first choice. Aphrodisiacs need something to act upon before they can fully take control," Yozak explained from under the towel.

"...Even so...I can't hurt Wolfram like that. And...I don't want to hurt you," Conrad lowered his head, feeling depressed.

"Wolfram's a snotty little brat half the time anyways, so what does it really matter?" shrugged the other. "I wouldn't totally give up on it just yet, Conrad... not when you don't know straight up front what Yuuri feels. I believe someone like you should be happy, and definitely go for the things you want in life. Don't just give up, got that?"

"Then what about you? You're my best friend, Yozak," Conrad looked at him with a frown.

"Well, maybe it's just a phase and I'll get over it," Yozak lied, as it had already been going on for almost a year now. If it was really just a phase, it sure was a long one. _;

"Yozak..." Conrad frowned sadly at that.  
The redhead adverted his gaze and raised his glass to down the rest of his drink, staring out the window at the pouring rain.

"...It seems I never do anything right," Conrad sighed and got to his feet, moving to stare at the window quietly. What was he supposed to do?

"Stop being so hard on yourself, it's not your fault," Yozak sighed and got up, putting his glass away before joining him at the window. "I wonder if this rain's going to keep us here for the night..."

"Perhaps...I hope the others are fine. Gwendal does awful in the rain," Conrad sighed.

"I'm sure they're close to home by now," Yozak stared out at the falling rain with a smile.

"Hmm..." Conrad still pursed his lips in worry, ever the worrywart of his family.

Yozak comfortingly put a hand on the other's shoulder, "They'll be fine... how about I go book us a room and get some more to drink?"

Conrad turned to smile at him sadly. "Hai...I'll look into some dry clothes for us."

"Oh I think I've got some spares in my pack if you want to use those," Yozak offered, motioning to his sack next to him.

"Hmph...you always plan ahead for anything, don't you?" Conrad smiled more easily, still impressed like always at the reminder.

"One can never be too careful," Yozak winked at him and turned to the sack, lifting it up and handing it to his friend before he headed for the counter.

Conrad watched him go, feeling his heart ache a little. What should he do about Yozak?

Yozak was obviously doing his best to just not think about it and forget it, instead chatting with the innkeeper and looking at the list before pointing to a room.

Conrad went into a spare room and changed into one of Yozak's extra sets, which thankfully wasn't a dress and was decent clothes you would see on a middle class peasant.

As soon as he was finished getting their room, Yozak came back and scratched his head until he spotted Conrad reemerging, "Hey, that looks pretty good on you."

Conrad smiled at the compliment. "Thank you. You should dry up and dress as well. We won't do each other good sick and sniffling."

"Yeah, I'm working on it," Yozak smirked and went to peek into his bags for something to wear. "Man, I'm tired... I'm ready for something to eat and a nice bed."

"Yes...a rest would be nice," Conrad sighed calmly in agreement.

"Mhm," Yozak sighed and stripped off his shirt so he could rummage around for a spare, able to find a sort of turtleneck that matched his eyes. Oh yeah, he'd forgotten about this.

Conrad waited quietly, wondering how long Yozak had felt such a way for him. Why had he never noticed? Though he supposed he was better at reading Yuuri or Wolfram then himself and others.

The redhead wiggled into the turtleneck and looked himself over in the mirror, folding the neckpiece over appropriately. Catching Conrad's gaze out of the corner of his eye, he blinked and looked back, "Yes?"

Conrad was quiet for a moment, before he decided to ask. After all, they'd always been able to talk to each other. "When did...it start. Those feelings?"

"What? Oh... that?" Yozak scratched the nape of his neck as he tried to remember that far back. "Uh... well, it was maybe four months or so after _she_ passed away... A while, I suppose."  
"...I see...I can't imagine why. I wasn't a pleasant man after her passing," Conrad frowned at the painful memories.  
"Oh I knew you would change again after some time passed... and it did as soon as Yuuri came to this world," Yozak noted.

"Yuuri's birth was a weight off my shoulders. When he smiled at me as just a newborn, I knew things would be fine," Conrad smiled and relaxed a little at the memory.

Yozak smiled, "You were never one to stay down about something for too long, Conrart."

Conrad gave Yozak a smile of his own at that.

Yozak stretched and wandered around the room for a moment, then headed to one of the beds where he would flop down upon it, hands behind his bed as he gazed to the ceiling.  
Conrad staid where he was, looking around quietly and feeling a little nervous now.  
"What's wrong, you hungry?" Yozak blinked and looked over to his companion.

"Not really," Conrad shrugged it off and went to his bed.

"Well, alright..." Yozak quirked a brow at him but shrugged, turning to face the wall with a stifled yawn.  
Conrad sighed and turned his back to Yozak and to his own wall, pillowing his head in his arm as he tried to sleep but could only keep thinking.

Yozak thought about sleeping, but he wasn't exactly quite ready to nod off. He couldn't help casting a glance over at his comrade every few minutes... was Conrad really ok?

Conrad didn't notice. He was staring at his wall with a troubled frown. He was truly a screw-up. He failed Julia. Yuri. And even Yozak. Why they put up with him, he wouldn't always never understand.

Eventually, the auburn-haired spy just sighed and pulled the covers over him, snuggling down into the bed and wondering just what chaos was going to ensue once they returned to the castle.


End file.
